Canon made quite a splash last year when it introduced its first nanoimprint lithography (NIL) machine, which can produce chips without using traditional DUV or EUV systems. But chipmakers unfamiliar with the technique were skeptical, both of this tool and the NIL method in general. Is that changing? This week the Japanese company delivered its FPA -1200NZ2C nanoimprint lithography system to the Texas Institute for Electronics (TIE) for study, according to Nikkei.
While this might not seem like big news, it could be a major breakthrough for Canon and nanoimprint lithography. The Texas Institute for Electronics grew out of the Nanomanufacturing Systems Center of the University of Texas 'in response to growing industry interest in advanced heterogeneous integration.' The TIE is supported by a consortium of major semiconductor companies, including Intel, NXP, and Samsung. It is also supported by DARPA, which recently awarded TIE and UT with a $1.4 billion grant to build multi-chiplet 3D processors for military and civilian applications.
