Researchers at NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) have put NIL (nanoimprint lithography)—a potential next-generation IC-fabrication technology—through its paces and pronounced the technique capable of accurately producing delicate insulating structures on advanced ICs. NIST reports that NIL, which essentially embosses a pattern onto a thin film atop a semiconductor wafer, creates structures that are more robust than those researchers can create using conventional lithography.

The process limits the number of troublesome large pores that form within the SOG (spin-on-organosilicate-glass) material the process uses as an insulator; increases the number of beneficial smaller pores; and forms a tough, 2-nm-thick skin upon the structures it creates, the researchers report.