Online information source for semiconductor professionals

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 >>

Yamagata Fujitsu has purchased Molecular Imprints newly introduced Imprio(R) HD2200 imprint lithography tool for hard disk drive (HDD) development work. The tool supplier said that this was the ninth Imprio system sold to the HDD industry in total, and the seventh sold to the HDD industry within the past 12 months. Read more >>

Although chemically amplified EUV resists have line width roughness (LWR) between 5-6nm resist post processing and etch processes are capable of reducing the roughness to levels acceptable for the 22nm node, according to new work undertaken at SEMATECH and resist suppliers. Read more >>

Carl Zeiss SMT has entered into a binding agreement to acquire Pixer Technology to boost its product offerings in the photomask sector. The acquired company will be part of Carl Zeiss SMT’s Semiconductor Metrology Systems Division (SMS). Pixer Technology is a privately held firm. . The acquisition is expected to close during the third quarter of 2008, the company said. Read more >>

EV Group has announced the purchase of its advanced IQ Aligner for UV-based nanoimprint lithography applications from Heptagon Micro-Optics Pte. Ltd., Singapore. The company will use the IQ Aligner for high-volume UV-NIL patterning of microlenses for CMOS image sensors and has been in production since May 2008 specifically for Heptagon's 200mm glass wafer micro-lens production. Read more >>

IMEC and JSR Corporation have collaborated on using only one etch step to reduce the cost of double patterning. 32nm lines and spaces were printed with a double exposure/single etch process, effectively freezing the resist after the first exposure. The freezing of the resist after the first exposure prevents the resist from expanding or shrinking, maintaining good CD control. When the second resist layer is added, the two do not interact. Read more >>

aCymer, Inc. has announced the industry’s first purchase of two of its 90W ArF XLR 600i light sources for applications in volume immersion and double patterning lithography at the 32nm node and beyond. The tool was demonstrated in April at Nikon’s Kumagaya, Japan facility, and it is believed that the tools were purchased by Nikon following the successful demonstration of its abilities and applications. Read more >>