tag: EUV

EUV glass still less than half full, but level is rising
By Katherine Derbyshire - 30 Mar, 2012 - Comments: 0

EUV first drew the semiconductor industry’s attention in the late 1990s, as lithographers began to consider the “post-optical” future. At that time, the future was expected to arrive with the 100-nm technology node, by 2004. ArF lithography turned out to be far more extensible than anticipated, though, and is still going strong fifteen years later. Which is fortunate given that, as we now... » read more

AL 2012 – Day 4
By Chris Mack - 14 Feb, 2012 - Comments: 0

As expected, the first EUV session of the last day of the conference filled a large room.  It was time to hear the status of EUV tool development, in particular the EUV sources.  ASML started things off with a rosy recounting of the successes of 2011.  After installing their sixth NXE:3100 preproduction tool, ASML bragged of the 5300 EUV wafers processed at customer sites by these six tools ... » read more

450mm and EUV Linked With Uncertainty
By Jonathan Davis - 13 Sep, 2011 - Comments: 0

By Jonathan Davis The transition to manufacturing semiconductors on larger wafers continues to be one of the hottest topics in the industry. Some chipmakers have committed to advancing the transition. Intel announced that its D1X fab in Oregon will be 450mm compatible (2013). TSMC announced a 450mm pilot line by 2013-2014. IMEC and ISMI have well-established programs focused on the challeng... » read more

For want of an o-ring, the mask was lost
By Katherine Derbyshire - 25 Jul, 2011 - Comments: 0

O-ring seals are everywhere in a typical semiconductor fab. Any piece of vacuum equipment uses several of them to seal the openings where components of the process chamber fit together. Yet, as ubiquitous as they are, most process engineers don’t think about them very much. They buy the seal specified by the equipment vendor, from the supplier with the most attractive price, and pretty much l... » read more

Race Intensifies To Develop EUV Source
By Ed Sperling - 02 Dec, 2010 - Comments: 0

By David Lammers The technology competition to supply the source of EUV radiation for the next-generation lithography tools has long been divided between the laser-produced plasma (LPP) approach, favored by Cymer (San Diego) and Gigaphoton (Oyama, Japan), and the discharge -produced plasma (DPP) method supported by Xtreme Technologies (Aachen, Germany). The competition is heating up, and it... » read more

The Growing Legacy Of Moore’s Law
By Ed Sperling - 02 Dec, 2010 - Comments: 0

By Ed Sperling Moore’s Law has defined semiconductor design since it was introduced in 1965, but increasingly it also has begun defining the manufacturing equipment, the cooling needed for end devices, and both the heat and performance of systems. In the equipment sector the big problem has been the delay in rolling out extreme ultraviolet (EUV). Moore’s Law will require tighter spacing... » read more

EUV Is Late—And It Hurts
By Ed Sperling - 28 May, 2009 - Comments: 0

Most chip architects and engineers couldn’t give a whit about the difference between deep ultraviolet and extreme ultraviolet lithography. It’s traditionally been a problem that foundries had to wrestle with, and that was their problem. Even DFM has been slow to catch on because what’s done in a foundry is of little interest up front.   The separation of those two worlds worked fine ... » read more

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