A vibrant conference showcases the growing momentum and innovation in photomasks and e-beam.
Photomask Japan (PMJ) 2025 was, without a doubt, the most exciting edition I’ve attended in recent years. From a surge in attendance to a packed agenda full of technical depth and forward-looking insights, this year’s event reflected the growing momentum and innovation across the photomask and eBeam ecosystem.
Let’s start with the numbers—624 attendees. That’s a significant jump from 483 last year and more than double the 253 we had when PMJ first returned to an in-person format post-COVID. That level of growth wasn’t just symbolic—it required doubling the conference room space and adding parallel sessions. I chaired a session on the second day, and for the first time ever at PMJ, not everyone was in a single track. That alone says a lot about how much interest and activity there is in our field right now.
The technical content this year was outstanding. Martin van den Brink, recently retired from ASML, gave a compelling keynote about how lithography fits into the broader megatrends of AI and energy transformation. His core message: lithography needs to be complemented by process control, metrology, OPC, and other optimization tools. I couldn’t agree more—total optimization is key.
Another standout keynote focused on future energy, which connected semiconductor manufacturing and sustainability. And an unexpected but fascinating talk explored virtual reality. To address the high cost of displays used for VR devices that are currently made by wafer process, companies are considering transitioning to flat panel processes. That involves more layers and tighter control—great news for the photomask industry.
Aki Fujimura, CEO of D2S, the managing company sponsor of the eBeam Initiative, presented results from the eBeam Initiative’s Luminaries Survey, and the outlook was promising over the next three years, as increased purchases are expected across all types of mask writers—multi-beam, variable shaped beam (VSB), and laser. That’s a strong indicator of continued growth and investment in our space.
At the Mycronic seminar, I was intrigued by their talk on Linearity Pro, which showed that MPC (mask process correction) can enhance even laser writers—not just tools at the most advanced nodes. It’s great to see MPC proving valuable in broader contexts and expanding the capabilities of legacy systems.
Ken MacWilliams, president of Multibeam Corporation (an eBeam Initiative member company), gave a fascinating keynote on their multi-column direct write technology. It enables chip-to-chip interconnects using a single-layer direct write approach—particularly exciting for the fast-growing advanced packaging market driven by AI.
Other significant updates came from Lasertec, IMS, NuFlare, and Mycronic. Lasertec showcased progress in actinic mask inspection for high-NA EUV, while IMS and NuFlare both discussed advancements in their multi-beam mask writers. Mycronic, in partnership with DNP, presented a study comparing masks written by their laser writer and a VSB eBeam writer. They used AIMS to emulate wafer results and concluded the performance was very similar. That echoed a study I did more than 20 years ago when I first started working on ILT—when a laser writer can resolve the pattern, it produces the same wafer result as a VSB mask writer.
Applied Materials gave a keynote that resonated strongly with me. They showed how materials and process innovations can drastically cut power consumption in power semiconductors—especially relevant for AI data centers with rising energy demands.
Yole, the market research firm, gave their first-ever PMJ talk on the photomask industry. They emphasized that mask and semiconductor revenues are highly correlated—but raised an important question: why isn’t the photomask industry capturing a larger share of the value than 1%? It’s a challenge we need to collectively consider.
The most impactful moment at PMJ 2025, in my view, was the session on PLDC—Pixel-Level Dose Correction. Paris Spinelli from Micron delivered what I think was the best presentation at the entire conference. His delivery was engaging, and the data was rock-solid.
PLDC is one of the most exciting innovations from D2S. Unlike traditional OPC and MPC tools that operate in the polygon domain, PLDC works directly at the pixel level. For multi-beam mask writers, that’s a big deal. By adjusting the dose per pixel, you can shape the dose profile more precisely than geometry changes alone can achieve.
Paris demonstrated that PLDC not only improves linearity but also enhances uniformity. It corrects geometric effects by moving edges by nanometers (though computed in the pixel domain) and dose effects by percent dose change (also computed in the pixel domain). PLDC enhances uniformity by increasing pixel doses at the edges of patterns to create a steeper dose slope. PLDC fits directly into the GPU processing pipeline of the multi-beam mask writer, so there’s no increase in turnaround time (see Figure 1). That’s the magic.
Fig. 1: PLDC turnaround time from Best Paper at Photomask Japan 2025 by Paris Spinelli of Micron.
Paris Spinelli’s work was honored as Best Paper at PMJ 2025. Congratulations to Paris and the entire Micron team for this well-deserved recognition! The presentation materials are available now at www.ebeam.org and a video of Paris presenting the paper will be available in early June.
The innovation didn’t stop there. The Best Poster Award went to Mayuko Matsumoto from Tekscend for her work extending PLDC to NCAR. Tekscend noticed that one strength of PLDC is that it substantially enhances uniformity in high density areas. Noting that writing masks with NCAR would benefit substantially from this, Matsumoto-san showed results that proved the benefits for NCAR, while still maintaining PLDC’s zero-turnaround-time advantage (see Figure 2).
Fig. 2: Best Poster awarded to Mayuko Matsumoto of Tekscend at Photomask Japan 2025.
Congratulations to all the eBeam Initiative member companies that were recognized as collaborators on PMJ best paper and poster awards this year: Tekscend, NuFlare, Micron, imec, DNP, and D2S. Your work and innovation are driving our industry forward in remarkable ways.
PMJ 2025 was more than just a successful event—it was a clear signal that the photomask and eBeam communities are growing, innovating, and evolving to meet new challenges. The energy, collaboration, and technical excellence on display made this event truly memorable.
Looking forward to what’s ahead—and to seeing many of you again next year.
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