A capability for patterning beyond-CMOS devices at atomic scale

二十世纪见证了消费电子产品的非凡技术进步，它彻底塑造了现代社会和经济。这种ICT的发展主要是由晶体管和集成电路的发明推动的，化学和材料科学在制造具有独特和可靠特性的有源器件方面发挥了关键作用，在过去的70年里，这些器件一直遵循摩尔的缩放趋势。因此，不断提高设备和系统性能的需求推动了原型设计和极端尺寸下的新型纳米级概念的研究工作-朝向单纳米级。这不仅对商用CMOS技术以及“超越CMOS”技术都很重要，这些技术有望通过以极低功耗提供前所未有的计算能力来颠覆当前的电子产品格局。与此同时，基于衍射/散射光场的人工智能分析的深亚波长光学成像新兴技术也受到当前纳米级精度和训练样本制造精度的限制。电子束光刻技术通过聚焦电子束直接图案化抗蚀剂，迄今为止支持了深亚微米领域的此类发展。高加速电压可以促进精细且更垂直（更好地限定）的线的写入，使邻近问题最小化，实现更好的图案保真度并且允许更宽的剂量优化窗口。英国现有的电子束光刻（EBL）系统工作电压高达100 kV，原则上可以达到5 nm的写入分辨率。该计划旨在采购世界上最高的加速电压EBL系统，该系统可以在25 kV至150 kV之间灵活操作，以便在大面积、样品基板（高达8”）和抗蚀剂厚度上高效快速地写入各种特征尺寸（低于5 nm）。这一新能力将为创新提供一个独特的平台（英国和欧洲的第一个），通过以前所未有的规模制造各种超CMOS器件和纳米结构。通过这种新仪器获得的知识不仅有助于深入了解纳米器件物理学，而且还将推动新兴存储器，计算，等离子体，光子学和传感器架构的破坏性ICT概念的发展。在南安普顿的纳米制造套件中托管这种独特的能力，为沿着其他最先进的工具带来了独特的使用机会，包括EPSRC资助的DUV步进机/扫描仪，它将支持行业兼容的晶圆规模处理，允许模仿EUV工具的制造能力（成本超过1亿英镑），并用于先进技术节点（3，5和7纳米）的工业铸造厂的生产。最后，该工具将支持一个多元化、包容性和协作性的研究社区，促进学术界和工业界之间的互动，并推动创新的研究项目和方向。

The twentieth century has witnessed an exceptional technological progress in consumer electronics that has utterly shaped modern societies and economies. This ICT evolution was mainly driven by the invention of the transistor and integrated circuits, with chemistry and materials science playing a pivotal role in manufacturing active devices with distinct and reliable properties that over the past 70 years have been following Moore's scaling trend. The need for continuing advancing the performance of devices and systems is thus driving research efforts in prototyping and demonstrating novel nano-scale concepts at extreme dimensions - towards the single nanometre scale. This is not only important both for commercially available CMOS technologies as well as "beyond-CMOS" technologies that promise to disrupt the current electronics landscape by delivering unprecedented computational at extreme low-power. At the same time, emerging techniques for deep-subwavelength optical imaging based upon AI-enabled analysis of diffracted/scattered light fields are also constrained by current nanoscale precision and accuracy with which training samples can be fabricated.Electron Beam Lithography has so far supported such developments in the deep-submicron regime by directly patterning resists with a focused beam of electrons. A high acceleration voltage can facilitate the writing of fine and more vertical (better defined) lines, minimise proximity issues, achieve a better pattern fidelity and allow for a wider dose optimisation window. Existing electron beam lithography (EBL) systems in the UK operate at voltages up to 100 kV and can in principle reach writing resolutions down to 5nm. This programme aims at procuring the world's highest acceleration voltage EBL system that can be flexible operated from 25 kV to 150 kV for writing efficiently and fast a wide range of feature sizes (sub-5nm) across large areas, sample substrates (up to 8") and resist thicknesses. This new capability will provide a unique platform (first one in the UK and Europe) for innovation via manufacturing a wide-range of beyond-CMOS devices and nanostructures at unprecedented scales. The knowledge gained with this new instrument will not only contribute to an in-depth understanding of nanodevice physics but also advance developments in disruptive ICT concepts across emerging memory, computing, plasmonics, photonics and sensory architectures. Hosting this unique capability within Southampton's nanofabrication suite brings unique opportunities for usage along other state-of-art tools, including an EPSRC funded DUV Stepper/Scanner, that will support industry compatible wafer scale processing that allows mimicking the manufacturing capability of EUV tools (costing in excess of 100M£) and are used for production at industrial foundries for advanced technological nodes (3, 5 and 7 nm). Finally, the tool will support a diverse, inclusive and collaborative research community, fostering interactions between academia and industry, and enabling innovative research projects and directions.