Keeping Canada at the Leading Edge of Microelectronics

In the miniaturized world of microelectronics, small is powerful and the key to commercial success. An International race is under way to pack as many functioning devices as possible on a microchip, and the prize Is a share of the rapidly growing communications and computer products market. Researchers at Micronet — Microelectronic Devices, Circuits and Systems for Ultra Large Scale Integraton (ULSI) — are helping to put Canada among the front runners in this race. Micronet's goal is to develop the capability to produce a semiconductor chip no larger than a thumb-print that has the capacity to hold 100 million transistors and other electronic components.

Using forefront X-ray lithography, a team at INRS in Varennes, Quebec, working in close association with Northern Telecom Electronics Limited (NTEL) in Kanata, Ontario, has developed the technology for producing transistors that are ten times smaller than those produced by current methods. To make use of X-ray technology, a number of challenges face the researchers. One involves choosing and developing the right mask, which is a type of high-tech stencil used to define the lines on the chip.

Radiation projects the pattern of the mask onto a resist film that incorporates the complex circuit designs. Although X-rays give a sharper and smaller definition of circuit lines, the wavelengths used in X-ray lithography do not penetrate most materials. To solve the problem, the Micronet team has developed an X-ray mask of very thin silicon carbide film and as a result has been able to routinely create high resolution gratings and lines. The team is working to build the first prototype transistors by the summer, using this X-ray mask.

Currently a tiny 1 cm chip can contain up to 2 million microscopic transistors and other electronic components. One transistor is about 1/100th the diameter of a human hair, already an astronomic reduction from the first transistors of 1948 that were the size of a vitamin pill. A 19505 transistor radio held about five of these transistors. In today's information society,where transmission of computer data and visual information Is growing at an unprecedented rate, squeezing more signal processing capability onto a semiconductor chip is vital. Tiny chips that can perform more functions at higher speed entail significant reductions in cost and dramatically Increase the versatility of a semiconductor chip.

Micronet draws together over 70 leading scientists from 16 Canadian universities and one government lab-oratory. It also provides a stimulating training environment for more than 200 graduate students. Micronet's 11 industrial affiliates are major players in Canada's vital communications and electronics Industry.

For more information please visit the Micronet Web site.