"Moore's Law" is well-known and widely used in the semiconductor industry to describe the advancement in semiconductor device technology. First observed by Intel Corporation co-founder and former chairman Gordon E. Moore in 1965, it predicts that the transistor density on integrated circuits (ICs) increases exponentially, doubling approximately every 18 months with proportionate decreases in cost. This prediction has held true since then and is a driving force of technology advancements worldwide.

To continue to meet Moore's Law, the length and width of a transistor must shrink about 30% every 18-24 months. The ability to pattern smaller circuits depends on the wavelength of the light used in the photolithography process. A shorter wavelength of light can image circuitry with smaller critical dimensions (CDs) and pitch, which in turn allows the transistors to be smaller and transistor density to increase.

Since the introduction of its first Deep Ultraviolet (DUV) light source, Cymer has played a significant role in the advance of integrated circuit manufacturing. Cymer has worked to continuously improve light source performance, enabling the application of its light sources to pattern ever smaller circuitry. As lithography continues to extend Moore's Law, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography will succeed double-patterning ArF immersion lithography allowing the scaling of feature sizes and half-pitch to 22 nm and beyond.

Further information on Moore's Law can be found on the Intel Corporation website.