Company News
Zeiss delivery heralds EUV
CARL ZEISS has now delivered a potential for ongoing miniaturization of
complete optical system for production chip structures. It operates with an
ready Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography exposure wavelength of 13.5
(EUVL), a new technology for microchip nanometers – almost 15 times shorter
fabrication. This optical system forms a than the 193 nanometer technology
core module of the first EUVL currently in use. Thanks to this short
production system from the Dutch exposure wavelength, it is possible to
manufacturer and long-term partner to reduce the size of chip structures and
Carl Zeiss, ASML. Delivery of the increase their packing density.
complete EUVL system, starting at a ASML has already received five
rate of 60 wafers per hour, is planned in orders for the EUVL production system, company Cymer, recently delivered the
the second half of 2010. It is intended with deliveries starting in 2010. “Our first source for integration into ASML´s
for production of microchips with recent successes are important EUVL production systems due in 2010.
Issue VI 2009
structures in the 20 Nanometer range milestones which show that EUVL is In lithography, the core process
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“Fifteen years ago, we launched making excellent progress as a cost used in chip fabrication, the specific
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research and development of EUV effective single patterning technology. patterns for circuits, transistors and
Lithography and have invested far in EUVL has the resolution power to carry capacitors are optically transferred from
excess of 100 million Euros since then,” Moore’s law beyond the next decade,” a mask to the wafer.
reports Dr. Peter Kürz, EUV Program says Christian Wagner, Senior Product For this purpose, an illumination
Director at Carl Zeiss SMT in Manager at ASML. system and a projection system are
Oberkochen. “To date, ASML has Other positive news concerning the integrated into a wafer scanner. The
installed two process development development of EUVL published during shorter the wavelength of the light used
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tools around the globe. Now its use in the past few weeks justify optimism. for lithography, the finer the patterns
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the volume production of microchips is The Belgian IMEC institute (Leuven), for that can be produced with it. Light with
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within reach.” example, recently reported about the an extremely short wavelength of 13.5
This technology, for the successful production of 22 nanometer nanometers is used for EUV
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development of which Peter Kürz and SRAM cells using the EUV process Lithography.
his team were nominated for the Future development tool installed in its facility. Illumination and projection optics
Award of the German Federal President Compared to the previous technology therefore consist of several sequentially
in 2007, and which has been funded node, this resulted in a 44% reduction arranged, intricately shaped mirrors
with a total of over 20 million euros in chip surface area – and therefore in a instead of the lenses normally used until
both by the German Ministry of potential halving of production costs. now. The resolution achieved enables
Education and Research and at a The manufacturer of laser beam light high chip packing densities – and
European level, offers long-term sources for lithography, the US-based therefore higher chip performance.
New orders inspires confidence
RUDOLPH TECHNOLOGIES has announced that is has Rudolph’s development of new 2D and 3D inspection tools
received orders for 20 tools from the world’s four largest during the past industry down-turn,” added Johnson.
outsourced assembly and test (OSAT) companies and major “In past industry cycle up-turns, the back-end market
foundry companies. The orders are for Rudolph’s automated segment has typically been a leading indicator of future
macro defect inspection equipment, which typically sell purchasing activity in the front-end wafer fabs,” Johnson
within a range of $600k to $1.2m. concluded. “Recognizing Rudolph’s leading position in the
“These orders represent a level of activity not seen since front-end market for our inspection and metrology solutions,
Q3 of 2008,” stated Ardy Johnson, vice president of we are anxiously preparing for the next significant industry-
marketing at Rudolph. “With the majority of this tool wide ramp. We have continued our 2009 product
demand coming out of Taiwan, we are anticipating an upbeat development investment, which, for example, has enabled us
SEMICON Taiwan exhibition this month.” to add enhanced resolution of measurements and defect
“Rudolph leads the market in back-end macro defect detectability, while further increasing tool productivity.
inspection. Therefore, this long-anticipated upswing in Product improvements such as this can be expected to result
assembly and test purchasing will prove quite beneficial for in ever stronger competitive positioning in meeting
our overall business,” Johnson continued. “These recent customers’ needs and expectations, and in what we believe
orders have confirmed the customer value resulting from will be a measurable market share gain for Rudolph.”
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