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Aim: Why is there a disconnect between the optical lithography that has enabled decades of Moore’s Law behavior and the many other lithographic techniques that seem to follow Tennant’s Law? Approach: The answer lies with the concept of stochastic-limited lithography. By developing very simple scaling relationships, a physical explanation for Tennant’s Law can be provided. By applying this explanation to optical lithography, its past can be explained and its potential for future success examined. Results: While optical lithography has not been stochastic-limited in the past (thus allowing it to avoid the fate of Tennant’s Law), in the future it will surely become stochastic-limited. Conclusions: The answer to the title question “Will stochastics be the ultimate limiter for nanopatterning?” is clearly yes whenever throughput plays an important role in economic viability. |
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