{
  "patent_number": "US 10514610",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "Making Tiny Chip Patterns Using Gas and Light",
  "original_title": "Lithography patterning with a gas phase resist",
  "summary": "This patent describes an advanced machine that uses a special gas and patterned light, like a tiny stencil, to draw incredibly small features directly onto a silicon wafer for making computer chips.",
  "what_it_does": "This patent describes an apparatus for creating patterns on semiconductor wafers using a gas-phase resist. Instead of coating a liquid resist, the machine flows an organic gas near the wafer's surface (Claim 1). A radiation source, often extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light (Claim 11), shines a patterned beam onto a special 'deposition enhancement layer' (DEL) on the wafer (Claim 1). Where the light hits, elements of the organic gas polymerize, meaning they stick together and form a solid resist pattern (Claim 1). The apparatus precisely controls the gas flow, turning it on while the light scans and shutting it off before the light reaches the edge of the wafer (Claim 1). For example, to create a circuit line, the EUV light would draw the line, and the organic gas would solidify only where the light hits, forming the resist pattern.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Does not cover traditional lithography methods that use liquid photoresists applied by spinning the wafer.",
    "Does not cover patterning techniques that do not involve the polymerization of an organic gas by patterned radiation.",
    "Does not cover systems where the organic gas flow is not precisely controlled to shut off before the radiation reaches the wafer's edge (Claim 1).",
    "Does not cover apparatuses that do not include a deposition enhancement layer (DEL) on the substrate (Claim 1).",
    "Does not cover patterning methods that do not use a radiation source to directly polymerize gas elements into a resist pattern."
  ],
  "filed": "2018-07-09",
  "granted": "2019-12-24",
  "expires": "2038-07-09",
  "status": "active",
  "holder": "Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co TSMC",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/taiwan-semiconductor-manufacturing-co-tsmc",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "Kevin Huang",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/kevin-huang"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jeng-Horng Chen",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/jeng-horng-chen"
    },
    {
      "name": "Kuo-Chang Kau",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/kuo-chang-kau"
    },
    {
      "name": "Shu-Hao Chang",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/shu-hao-chang"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 0,
  "tags": [
    "semiconductors",
    "consumer_electronics",
    "materials",
    "telecommunications"
  ],
  "abstract": "Disclosed is an apparatus for lithography patterning. The apparatus includes a substrate stage configured to hold a substrate coated with a deposition enhancement layer (DEL), a radiation source for generating a patterned radiation towards a surface of the DEL, and a supply pipe for flowing an organic gas near the surface of the DEL, wherein elements of the organic gas polymerize upon the patterned radiation, thereby forming a resist pattern over the DEL.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/10514610/lithography-patterning-with-a-gas-phase-resist",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/10514610/lithography-patterning-with-a-gas-phase-resist/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US10514610",
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}