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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. Read more >>

EV Group (EVG) has reached a new milestone with the shipping of its 100th nanoimprint lithography (NIL) system. According to the company, this solidifies its 30 percent market share and leadership in the field. Read more >>

e-Shuttle, a joint venture operation of Fujitsu Microelectronics and Advantest, is to use D2S' design for e-beam (DFEB) technology, initially on a 65nm Low Power (LP) library. After refinement, e-Shuttle expects to run tests and validate the technology for 40nm-and-below IC prototypes. DFEB technology employs a character projection (CP) technique, combined with design and software solutions to reduce a design's required shot count, resulting in increased CP e-beam direct write throughput. Read more >>

Carl Zeiss has acquired approximately 40 percent of Karlsruhe start-up Nanoscribe GmbH, a developer of 3D laser direct lithography systems used for the manufacture of 3D micro and nano-structures. Terms of the deal were not announced. Carl Zeiss will also be involved in the development of the technology. Read more >>

At the 2008 International Symposium on Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUV), ASML expects to present on new developments in EUV lithography that it claims show a production worthiness for the technology down to 11nm. The lithography equipment supplier has dubbed the production tool its 'NXE' series with the design having been completed and evolved from its optical TWINSCAN platform, and has orders for five of these systems from memory and logic customers, the company said. Read more >>

IBM and Mentor Graphics are to jointly develop and distribute next-generation computational lithography (CL) software for the 22nm node and below, which will enable a computationally based process for production at the 22nm node. According to the partners, this will be first of its kind. Read more >>

API Nanotronics has completed a development agreement with an unnamed leading semiconductor capital equipment company to develop proprietary high-performance deep-ultraviolet (DUV) polarizers for next-generation lithography equipment. Read more >>

In a move aimed to bolster Dresden's role as a center of excellence for advanced photomask development and engineering, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding a portion of a new joint venture in the area. Over the next two and a half years, the "Critical Dimension and Registration for 32-nm Mask Lithography" (CDuR32) cooperative project--a partnership of the Advanced Mask Technology Center (AMTC), Vistec Semiconductor Systems, and the German Metrology Institute (PTB)--will develop mask and measurement technologies for 32-nm memory chip and 22-nm microprocessor generations. Read more >>

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. Read more >>

An Asia based IC manufacturer has placed an order with Micronic Laser Systems for its latest photomask pattern generator, the Sigma7500. The system will be shipped in 2008, the company said. The Sigma series covers an application space including both binary photomasks and phase shifting masks (PSM) at the 90nm, 65nm and 45nm technology nodes. Read more >>