TRW's UV Laser to Advance Photolithography

TRW's Space and Technology Div. in Redondo Beach, Calif., has taken another step closer in the development of a light source for lithography for the semiconductor industry.
TRW selected SDL Inc. in San Jose, Calif., as the initial supplier of high-power laser diode pump arrays for an advanced solid-state UV laser, which it hopes will be used in advanced photolithography in the 21st century. A sponsoring industry consortium has estimated that sales of such lithography equipment could become a multibillion-dollar market in the early years of the next century.