Tuesday, November 16, 2010
The University of New Mexico (UNM)'s technology-licensing arm filed a complaint in U.S. federal court Monday (Nov. 15) alleging that Intel Corp. is infringing on a university-held patent covering double patterning lithography technology.
In June, the university's technology-licensing entity, UNM.STC, filed similar complaints against Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. with the U.S. International Trade Commission. Lisa Kuuttila, STC's president and CEO, said STC dropped those complaints after both TSMC and Samsung agreed to license the technology. Renesas Electronics Inc., Hynix Semiconductor Inc. and Toshiba Corp. also pay licensing fees to STC to use the technology, according to STC.
Kuuttila declined to provide details about the licensing agreements, including royalty fees. Asked if STC is considering similar actions against other semiconductor companies that use double patterning, Kuuttila declined to name any specific companies. "I think it's fair to say the university believes that it is due the proper the agreements in place for reasonable royalties if the companies are using the double patterning lithography, which we believe is very important to the industry," Kuuttila said.
Kuuttila said UNM hopes to add the world's biggest chip maker to its list of licenses as a result of Monday's complaint. "We would be thrilled to have Intel as a licensee," Kuuttila said.
Chip makers have been using double patterning since the 32-nm node to compensate for shrinking linewidths and image blurring. There are several different double patterning techniques. It is not known if UNM's patent on double patterning lithography technology would cover all implementations of double patterning.
In 2000, UNM was awarded U.S. Patent No. 6.042.998, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Extending Spatial Frequencies in Photolithography Images." The technology was developed by several researchers at UNM, including Steven R. J. Brueck, a distinguished professor in UNM's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Physics and Astronomy and director of the university's center for high-tech materials research.
UNM's suit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the district of New Mexico.
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