Online information source for semiconductor professionals
EUVL Symposium: source, mask defects & resists remain challenges
Popular articles
Micron moving fast on Hynix in Q208 NAND flash rankings, says iSuppli - 19 August 2008
Numonyx to close California Technology Center - 12 August 2008
Qimonda starts major reorganization: exits PC DRAM market - 13 October 2008
Micron close to Inotera share purchase, says Gartner - 06 October 2008
Applied Materials sees higher CapEx spending for 2009 - 15 August 2008
At the seventh EUVL Symposium, organized by SEMATECH, key challenges remain for EUV lithography before volume production adoption at the 22nm half-pitch, according to attendees and an assessment from the research consortium.
A fully integrated laser produced plasma (LPP) source collector module with effective mitigation of tin deposition and ion erosion was demonstrated at the symposium with 3 to 4 W at intermediate focus (IF). Long-term source operation with 100 W at the IF and 5 megajoule per day will be required for production. SEMATECH noted that on the ASML EUV alpha tool, power of discharge produced plasma (DPP) sources had now reached 500W.
The ability to produce and maintain defect-free masks continues to improve, according to SEMATECH, however the industry will require more sensitive defect inspection tools for mask substrates and blanks. In part a commercial EUV aerial imaging tool will be required for patterned mask defect review. Concern was also raised over EUV metrology infrastructure as a whole.
Photoresist sensitivity and Line Edge Roughness (LER) are still proving problematic. However, SEMATECH work has shown that 20 nm resolution images and 30 nm 1:1 contact hole images have been achieved.
SEMATECH remains positive at this time that EUV Lithography will be ready for pilot line insertion in the 2010-2012 timeframe.