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Cymer has come out with a argon-fluoride laser light source designed for advanced "dry" lithography--the XLR 500d. The company says the new source leverages the advanced capabilities of its XLRE technology developed for ArF immersion lithography, including enhanced energy stability, which enables the use of fewer laser pulses per exposure, providing semiconductor manufacturers with higher throughputs and decreased operating costs.

The XLR 500d has several features already proven on the company's XLR immersion source, such as the patented recirculating ring technology, and a lower cost of consumables derived from longer life modules. Other customer benefits cited by Cymer include improved energy and dose stability, excellent bandwidth stability leading to improved critical dimension uniformity on the wafer, and a longer interval between gas refills, made possible with the company's gas lifetime eXtension (GLX2) product, a laser upgrade which the time between gas exchanges by a factor of 20.

Initial orders for the XLR 500d have been received and shipments are scheduled for third- and fourth-quarter 2008, according to Cymer.

During its most recent quarterly financial report, Cymer's CEO Bob Akins noted that shipments of the immersion version of the XLR, the 500i, had more than doubled in the second quarter of this year, including the installation of five 500i platforms at various chipmaker fabs. The first orders for the company's XLR 600i source, a 90-W source designed for ArF double-patterning applications, were also in the books, according to Akins.

-- Tom Cheyney