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ASML has shipped its 1000th KrF lithography system, which went to a customer in South Korea, the company said. The KrF system will be used for the production of memory chips.

“Non-critical i-Line layers are gradually shifting into the KrF resolution domain and more and more implants, typically exposed with KrF, are needed to tune transistor performance. Being able to process many mid-critical semiconductor layers with KrF systems offers chip manufacturers the opportunity to control their cost and ultimately deliver more value to electronics producers and consumers. We expect worldwide KrF demand to rise over the coming years, growing easily by double-digit rates and reaching close to 300 scanner shipment levels by 2012,” said G. Dan Hutcheson, CEO of market research firm VLSI Research, Inc.

“The success of the semiconductor industry is built on the principle of continuous cost reduction to make computing power and memory more affordable and easy to use, and this is especially relevant in today’s competitive environment. Our customers need to reduce the cost per layer, and ASML’s continuous KrF system improvements help them to achieve this goal,” said Bert Koek, General Manager of 300mm business at ASML.

ASML said that it has increased scanner throughput by approximately 10 percent every year to a level of 150 wafers per hour today (300mm diameter). Later this year, KrF systems will be able to process 165 wafers per hour.