eBeam Initiative At SPIE ALP 2026: Continuing Progress On Curvilinear, EUV, And Data Challenges

The eBeam Initiative’s annual lunch at SPIE Advanced Lithography and Patterning has long served as a focal point for eBeam technology education for the industry. This year marked our 17th gathering, with approximately 150 attendees joining us. As in past years, the value of the session was less about any single topic and more about the collective signal across different parts of the ecosystem.

This year, that signal pointed to continued progress—particularly around curvilinear masks, EUV adoption, data handling, and the role of eBeam multi-beam mask writers to support advanced patterning.

To capture these perspectives more broadly, we are featuring new videos as part of the Spring Fine Line Video Journal, one of three editions we publish each year. Together, they provide a cross-section of current thinking across mask shops, design automation and research organizations.

D2S: Only entirely curvilinear masks are entirely manufacturable masks

D2S CEO Aki Fujimura’s keynote during the lunch, also included in the Spring Fine Line Video Journal, took a broader view of how historical computing constraints continue to shape some current practices while advances in GPU computing and multi-beam mask writing are removing constraints to enable entirely curvilinear masks. He revisited how Manhattan geometries became dominant largely due to computing limitations rather than manufacturing preference, leveraging his extensive career experience in both design and manufacturing.

Aki discussed the growing feasibility of entirely curvilinear masks and the potential benefits in process window and uniformity, enabled by GPU computing and multi-beam mask writing. His presentation emphasized the relationship between mask area accuracy and wafer results, particularly as feature sizes shrink. This leads to a simple but powerful principle:

Ask for what you can get—and get what you asked for.

In other words, shapes that can be faithfully manufactured, rather than approximated, improve mask uniformity and ultimately wafer CDU.

Tekscend Photomask: Mask manufacturing realities of EUV, curvilinear and AI adoption

In a separate video included in the Spring Fine Line Video Journal, Aki Fujimura spoke with Mike Hadsell, COO of Tekscend Photomask, who offered a mask shop perspective on many of the same trends as well as his experience in supporting their recent initial public offering (IPO). For the photomask industry, where many investors don’t understand what a mask is, the Tekscend team used the expression “no masks, no chips” to bring home the importance of the segment to investors.

A key focus of the discussion was ongoing investment in both EUV and advanced ArF lithography infrastructure, including curvilinear masks. Mike sees curvilinear masks are here to stay because they extend the life of ArF equipment and you get an advanced capability in lithography without the EUV investment. Curvilinear masks are one of the motivators for purchasing multi-beam mask writers. This dual-track investment reflects the reality that multiple lithography approaches will coexist for some time.

The conversation also touched on AI both inside Tekscend and outside with customers. AI is being used at Tekscend for advanced production control and in evaluation for automatic classification of mask defects. That capability isn’t in production yet, but he sees promise. Mike reminds us that in the photomask industry, there is no forgiveness for a defect. You must be perfect.

Aki closed the conversation with Mike on the topic of career advice. Mike summarised his thoughts in two pieces of advice: 1) work with great people, and 2) keep learning. He mentioned Dr. Franklin Kalk, retired CTO of Toppan Photomask, as one of those great people. Franklin gave a pivotal talk at an eBeam Initiative event years ago calling for the industry to rally behind the need to refresh, renew, or replace legacy tools.

Congratulations to Mike and the Tekscend team on an exciting chapter in the photomask industry!

imec: Managing curvilinear data size while maintaining accuracy

The Spring Fine Line Video Journal features Yi-Pei (Peggy) Tsai of imec, presenting her SPIE Advanced Lithography and Patterning paper.

Her work examines different curvilinear photomask data formats and their impact on mask-to-wafer fidelity. This includes comparisons of approaches such as Bezier curves, B-splines, and piecewise-linear representations, along with their implications for data volume and figure density.

As curvilinear masks become more widely considered, these data representation questions are becoming increasingly important. Managing data size while maintaining accuracy remains a key challenge across the ecosystem.

Preparing for the next industry checkpoint

Each year, the eBeam Initiative Luminaries survey captures industry perspectives on key trends, challenges, and areas of progress across the photomask and lithography ecosystem. The results will be presented at the eBeam Initiative’s annual reception during the BACUS SPIE Photomask Conference in September, providing an opportunity to compare viewpoints across device makers, mask shops, and suppliers.

As always, the goal of the eBeam Initiative is to bring these perspectives together and help the industry better understand both current progress and the challenges ahead.