Where semiconductors
begin, drawn with light —
Blankmask
The first canvas of semiconductor micro-processing.
Circuit precision is determined on the purest substrate.
What is a blankmask?
In a word, it is a "clean film before the photo is taken." Etching a semiconductor circuit design onto this film creates a photomask, and that design is copied onto the wafer with light to make a semiconductor.
How a blankmask is made
A circuit pattern is etched into a three-layer thin-film substrate to make a photomask, and that pattern is copied onto the wafer with light.
Blankmask cross-section
A substrate built from three layers of film.
Pattern formation
The circuit design is etched using light and chemical processes.
Transferring the circuit to the wafer
The finished photomask is mounted in the lithography system, and light transfers the circuit onto the wafer.
Two kinds of light, two kinds of blankmask
Drawing semiconductors ever smaller requires light of shorter wavelength. The mask structure changes with the type of light.
Two business areas
The same blankmask technology becomes the starting point for two industries — semiconductors and displays.
For Semiconductors
Semiconductor masks that lead to fine circuitry on the wafer — from memory to AI logic.
For Displays
Display masks that lead to large flat-panel circuitry — the foundation of high-resolution screens.
The technology that builds
the digital world, unseen
