Austin, Texas-based International Sematech, a nonprofit R&D consortium of 13 semiconductor manufacturers, announced that it has ordered a 193-nm full-field exposure system from Silicon Valley Group Lithography Systems of Wilton, Conn. The ArF device, which will be housed at the consortium's Advanced Tool Development Facility, will enable researchers to conduct resist and reticle development at feature sizes less than 130 nm.

Semiconductor manufacturing currently employs 248-nm optical lithography tools to produce 180-nm resolution. The companies are testing the use of 157-nm sources to produce chips with 90-nm features. International Sematech is investigating postoptical and next-generation lithography to create 70-nm features.