Are you asking about lithography as applied to semiconductor manufacture in general or specific applications of 0.1 um lithography as opposed to any other dimension lithography?
Lithography is essentially a photographic process by which device features are transferred from "masks" to the equivalent of a photoemulsion call photoresist. The features on the mask correspond to different parts of the device, such as metallization, diffusions, polysilicon, etc.
The photoresist is developed, leaving unexposed photoresist covering portions of the wafer not participating in the following processing steps. These steps include etching of materials, or deposition of materials. The photoresist is then removed.
Following that are other processing steps and eventually another photoresist exposure, development, etc. Typical CMOS processes in modern devices consist of upwards of 14-20 photoresist steps, each one adding a step in the process, culminating in the finished IC.
0.1 micron refers to the smallest defined feature of the device, typically the gate length. The CMOS transistors are surface field effect devices, characterized by a gate width and length. Shorter gate widths result in faster devices, hence the push to 0.1 micron. Other features such as metal and diffusion line widths likewise are driven to smaller dimensions to allow tighter packing of devices. That's why microprocessors, which started with a few thousand transistors can now be built with millions of transistors, while still fitting in die sizes that can be packaged in relatively small packages.
DRAMs would be a driver; so would ASICs and microprocessors...is that what you're asking about? Visit IBM's microelectronics site and TSMC's...maybe also visit
0.1um technology is referred to gate length usually or 193nm or even now down to 45nm technology.These are smallest devices that can be printed in optical lithography.This can be used in any application because what we are talking about is transistors which are used in processors,memories and other semiconductor apps.
