HSINCHU, Taiwan, December 4, 2003--UMC (NYSE:UMC), - a world-leading semiconductor foundry, today announced a new manufacturing milestone by becoming the first foundry to use chromeless (Cr-less) phase-shift mask technology for the successful production of functional customer products at the 90nm node. Due to the excellent results, UMC is also considering Cr-less phase-shift mask technology using 193nm lithography for the migration to the 65nm generation.

“UMC’s 90nm silicon success using Cr-less PSMs and 193nm lithography tools shows that we have moved Cr-less PSM technology out of the experimental stage,” commented Dr. S.W. Sun, head of UMC’s Central R&D (CRD) Division. "The Cr-less PSM is an excellent 90nm and below resolution enhancement technology (RET), which we are evaluating to extend the life of our existing 193nm lithography tools. With the Cr-less approach, we have achieved improved critical-dimension uniformity and line-edge roughness control, which means that layout patterns are more accurately being printed onto silicon."

Masks are used much like a photo negative, but instead transfer circuit patterns onto a semiconductor wafer. UMC uses its 193nm lithography capability, to project an image onto silicon through the mask. The Cr-less PSM is unlike the traditional binary mask as the chrome is replaced by sub-resolution phase shifter for pattern delineation. Also, with this technology, two-phase edges are required instead of one to define single-line patterns. The contrast of the image is thus enhanced through destructive interference at each phase edge, which leads to enhanced gradient of exposure intensity . This in turn results in improved resolution and critical dimension control of the advanced lithography process. The Cr-less technology is also proving to be more cost effective in manufacturing than the alternating PSM approach, which requires double exposure and two masks for each patterning layer. UMC is also evaluating the use of Cr-less PSM technology beyond 65nm, along with several other RET candidates.

UMC (NYSE: UMC, TSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry that manufactures advanced process ICs for applications spanning every major sector of the semiconductor industry. UMC delivers cutting-edge foundry technologies that enable sophisticated system-on-chip (SOC) designs, including 90nm copper, 0.13um copper, embedded DRAM, and mixed signal/RFCMOS. UMC is also a leader in 300mm manufacturing; Fab 12A in Taiwan is currently in volume production for a variety of customer products, while Singapore-based UMCi is now in pilot production. UMC employs over 8,500 people worldwide and has offices in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Europe, and the United States. UMC can be found on the web at http://www.umc.com.