04.20.21
The global semiconductor market is growing rapidly, driven by advancements in IoT, automotive and 5G requiring faster chips that use less power.
EUV lithography is a giant leap forward, yet defects in printing remain among the greatest constraints to EUV technology uptake. Silicon is reaching its physical limits too, calling for new material innovations to keep Moore’s Law on track.
Canatu said it is pioneering the future of semiconductor manufacturing with its technology called Carbon NanoBud (CNB), a hybrid carbon nanomaterial fusing nanotubes with fullerenes.
A single Carbon NanoBud tube is only 1-2 nanometers thin, yet they can be more than 10 micrometers long.
This large aspect ratio enables very thin yet exceptionally durable network structures.
Free-standing CNB membrane is the world’s thinnest (<20nm) and most durable full-field (110x140mm) free-standing membrane that can endure realistic handling and pumping cycles.
It is shaped like a spider web network with a very small pore size, capable of filtering particles down to nanoscale.
Thanks to the very small interaction cross-section of carbon, it features extremely high transmission of light (>97%T at EUV / X-Ray), and low flare which means the transmitted light does not scatter off from the membrane but most of the light is available on the wafer.
The material is also extremely resistant to high temperatures and can, depending on the environment, tolerate up to 1,500°C without breaking or decomposing.
Canatu has developed a unique dry process for synthesizing and depositing CNBs which eliminates compromising wet dispersion steps traditionally used to make carbon nanotube membranes.
This enables Canatu to create longer, cleaner and virtually defect-free tubes ensuring better performance in the end application. The material and process are also highly tunable.
Canatu said it has the means to synthesize single-walled, double-walled and multi-walled tubes.
The level of bundling and network density of these tubes can be also controlled to match the application-specific requirements.
Finally, this highly tailorable morphology can be conformally coated with organic or inorganic coatings in case the transmission of the visible light needs to be eliminated, or the carbon needs to be passivated against certain chemistries.
These unique properties make free-standing CNB membranes ideal for multiple applications including but not limited to EUV pellicles, optical filters, X-Ray windows and beyond.
