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DUV light source orders have waned in the second quarter as IC manufacturers pause on capital expenditure plans going into 2011, according to comments made by Cymer in reporting quarterly results last week. Light source shipments in 2Q, totalled 47 light sources, of which 28 were ArF immersion, 17 were KrF and 2 were ArF dry, and the company installed 56 light sources at chipmaker and other end user locations. Read more >>

Billed as an important milestone in imec’s ‘Advanced Lithography’ program, the research centre has successfully printed wafers using the new pre-production EUV scanner from ASML. The system also employs a laser assisted discharge plasma (LDP) source from XTREME technologies and is interfaced with a TEL Lithius Pro EUV process track. According to imec, ASML’s NXE:3100, is currently the only pre-production tool in the world equipped with an LDP source from XTREME technologies. The EUV tool is reported to cost approximatley €42 million. Read more >>

ASML reported record quarterly revenue for the second quarter of 2011. Sales were €1.529 billion, compared to €1,452 billion in the previous quarter. ASML shipped 63 systems shipped valued at €1.333 billion. Service and field option sales were at €196 million in the quarter. Order backlog were reported at €2.756 billion, made up of 105 systems with an ASP of €26.2 million. ASML expects net sales to be lower than analysts had expected for the third quarter. The lithography supplier guided sales of €1.4 billion, including two second generation EUV systems which represent total sales of around €80 million with zero profit margin. ASML reiterated that its sales expectation for 2011 would hit a record of over €5 billion, not including EUV. Read more >>

Considering its pre-production NXT:3100 EUV lithography tool was thought to carry a  price tag above €50 million a pop, while having a throughput in the single digit wafer per hour range, ASML's production tool; NXE:3100 looks a bit of bargain at an ASP of €42 million, given the projected throughput of 60wph. Read more >>

SUSS MicroTec is to ship the first MaskTrack Pro InSync - the first holistic in-fab EUVL mask management offering to imec in Belgium, in August 2011. MTP InSync is a stand-alone or clustered handling system which seamlessly synchronizes mask cleaning, handling, inspection and storage in a single controlled environment. Read more >>

Advanced semiconductor manufacturers, Intel, Globalfoundries, Samsung Electronics and TSMC have joined SEMATECH’s EUVL Mask Infrastructure partnership program, specifically to pursue what was described as an ‘ambitious metrology program’ to enable defect-free EUVL masks for high-volume manufacturing. Defect-free masks and the ability of metrology systems to detect the defects has been a major problem facing the adoption of EUV lithography. A key metrology equipment supplier in the project is Carl Zeiss. Read more >>

Lithography light source manufacturer, Gigaphoton claims that its debris mitigating technology, using magnetic fields for laser-produced plasma (LPP) light sources for EUV lithography is capable of removing 92% of debris, which means the technology will enter mass production, and shipments start in early, 2012. Read more >>

Lithography market leader, ASML has secured another batch of lithography equipment orders from TSMC. The latest follow-on order is for the amount of approximately US$58.77 million. ASML is TSMC’s preferred supplier for lithography tools. Read more >>

According to a new report from technical-based market research firm, Techcet photoresist manufacturer’s revenues are expected to continue to grow at 4.7% over the next three years, fuelled by demand for 193nm immersion with double patterning lithography, which is being driven by NAND Flash memory manufacturers. Read more >>

Continued preferred supplier status at TSMC is benefiting leading lithography supplier, ASML. Already a recipient of multiple major purchase orders from the leading foundry, a new order issued by TSMC to ASML is worth approximately US$117.6 million. The order is likely to be the single largest from TSMC the lithography tool supplier has received this year. Read more >>