International Sematech of Austin, Texas, a consortium of 13 semiconductor chip manufacturers, has announced plans to upgrade its 157-nm microstepper from Exitech Ltd. of Oxford, UK. The incorporation of a 0.85-NA objective should enable the system to produce feature sizes as small as 35 to 60 nm with binary and phase-shifting masks.

The microstepper, which uses a 6-W Novaline F630 F₂ laser from Lambda Physik Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., as an illumination source, enables the Sematech researchers to investigate next-generation photolithography techniques. It currently produces minimum line widths of 90 and 50 nm using a 1.5 x 1.5-mm, 0.6-NA, catadioptric objective from Tropel Corp. (now Corning Tropel) of Fairport, N.Y. The addition of the 0.5 x 0.5-mm lens is scheduled for February 2002.