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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is the first IC manufacturer to place an order with MAPPER Lithography for its 300mm multiple e-beam maskless lithography tool. TSMC will use the tool for further development in-house of the lithography technology as well as device prototyping. MAPPER said that TSMC was evaluating the technology as an option for lithography process steps at the 22nm node.

“MAPPER’s technology holds great promise for cost-effective manufacturing at 22nm and beyond," commented Dr. Jack Sun, Vice President of Research and Development at TSMC. “We are therefore going to test MAPPER’s solution to see whether it will live up to its promise. Using this first tool we will be able to explore its viability for manufacturing. MAPPER’s solution is a serious candidate to become the future lithography standard.”

“This is another huge step forward for MAPPER,” remarked MAPPER’s CEO, Dr. Christopher Hegarty. “We first demonstrated proof of principle of our massively parallel electron-beam maskless lithography technology concept in September 2007. In the near future we will be shipping our first 300mm platform. We are very proud of this achievement. Having TSMC, the leading semiconductor foundry, as our launching customer for this project is a great honour for us. Their order also is a clear demonstration of TSMC’s expectation of our solution. Our whole team is fully committed to turning this opportunity for 22 nm manufacturing into a mature technology.”

TSMC has become increasingly concerned about the costs associated with EUV lithography as it relates to foundry operations. These are characterized by small lots from hundreds of customers, compared to a small number of products and mask sets and high volume lots, for microprocessors and memory devices that are typical for IDMs.