A couple of months ago Toshiba and SK hynix settled their disagreements and announced a closer collaboration between the two. The next step in this process has been made with the signing of a definitive agreement between the two on the joint development of Nano Imprint Lithography (NIL).
Engineers from the two companies will start development of basic technologies for the process at Toshiba’s Yokohama Complex in Yokohama, Japan in April this year, targeting practical use in 2017
NIL is the one of candidate technologies for advancing the migration to future generations of memory devices. Photolithography, the current mainstream process technology, uses a laser and photosensitive mask to etch circuits on a light-sensitive coating on semiconductor wafers. NIL transfers the circuit design directly, by impressing a patterned template onto the wafer.
This has the potential to achieve finer designs, resulting in better power optimisation as well as smaller devices. It is also great to see technology companies bury the hatchet and start working together instead.
Thanks to Toshiba for providing us with this information
