Mask Roadmap Committee — Draft Charter for Discussion
Purpose
The Mask Roadmap Committee will develop and maintain an industry roadmap for a technically capable, economically sustainable and resilient photomask ecosystem.
It will translate future lithography and device requirements into coordinated milestones for mask materials, manufacturing, equipment, qualification and use in wafer fabrication.
Objectives
- Establish a shared, evidence-based view of future mask requirements and adoption scenarios.
- Identify capability gaps, critical dependencies and development lead times across the complete mask lifecycle.
- Evaluate the economic conditions required for viable infrastructure transitions.
- Define measurable readiness milestones and common qualification needs.
- Identify and prioritize standardization needs for consideration through the relevant SEMI processes.
- Provide manufacturing evidence and feedback to IRDS and related technology-roadmap activities.
Scope
The committee will cover substrates and blanks; mask design and data preparation; writing and processing; metrology, inspection and repair; cleaning and pellicles; transport and handling; and mask qualification, use, storage and lifetime management in wafer fabs.
Its initial priority will be the infrastructure implications of larger-format EUV masks. Continuing requirements for existing mask formats, advanced absorbers and curvilinear patterning will remain part of the roadmap. Longer-term concepts will be included as explicitly conditional scenarios.
Working principles
The roadmap will distinguish customer requirements, technical possibilities, demonstrated capabilities, qualification results and adoption assumptions.
Milestones will identify their evidence, dependencies, responsible contributors and uncertainty. Unresolved differences will be documented.
The committee will recommend common priorities and collaborative work. Companies will retain responsibility for their own product, investment, procurement and adoption decisions.
Organization
A balanced steering group will include wafer manufacturers, merchant and captive mask shops, equipment and material suppliers, and research organizations.
Technical workstreams will develop the roadmap, supported by a cross-cutting economics and transition workstream. Named liaisons will maintain interfaces with IRDS, SEMI and relevant industry initiatives.
Deliverables
The committee will publish a version-controlled roadmap, supported by a requirements register, capability and dependency matrix, transition scenarios, qualification milestones, standards-gap register and prioritized research needs.
Operating model
The committee will review progress quarterly and publish a consolidated update annually. Public findings and confidential inputs will be handled separately under agreed participation and information-use rules.
Success criteria
Success will be measured by better-supported investment decisions, fewer unresolved dependencies, demonstrated manufacturing readiness and timely closure of critical capability and standards gaps.