X-ray lithography: Some history, current status and future prospects

In this article we provide a brief history of some of the world's major efforts in X-ray lithography. We discuss the limitations and advantages of this approach in a variety of applications. These include the printing of mask layers in very-large-scale integrated circuits, the manufacture of high aspect ratio structures as a kind of “micro-3D printer,” and the possible use of the technique for imaging on non-planar surfaces. We conclude with a discussion of the potential future of the approach in microlithography.