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Lithography track specialist, SOKUDO has joined the new industry and research multi-partner program IMAGINE run by CEA-Leti that is developing maskless lithography for IC manufacturing. Under a three-year project partners such as TSMC and STMicroelectronics are working to potentially bring maskless lithography developed by MAPPER Lithography into the mainstream. Read more >>

Toppan’s ongoing joint development project with IBM has led to the mask manufacturer claiming it is now ready to support 22nm and 20nm photomask prototyping as well as production for leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing customers. The latest photomask technology accommodates advanced double patterning and source mask optimization (SMO) solutions to extend the capabilities of 193nm wavelength ArF immersion optical lithography, without associated significant increases in mask costs, according to Toppan. Read more >>

Veeco Instruments has revealed the completion of the sale of its Metrology business unit to Bruker, provider of high-performance solutions and scientific instruments for molecular and materials research. The US$229 million cash transaction has been approved by both companies’ boards of directors, and will involve the transfer of Veeco’s global business – including its atomic force microscope (AFM) business in Santa Barbara, CA and its optical industrial metrology (OIM) business in Tucson, AZ – to Bruker, which will combine the new acquisition with its existing Bruker Nano instruments business. Read more >>

The jointly developed ‘PROVE’ overlay metrology system between Carl Zeiss and SEMATECH has successfully passed a key development milestone, according to the partners. The system has achieved .5nm repeatability and 1.0nm accuracy in image placement, registration and overlay measurement for double patterning photomasks, a key requirement for extending 193nm ArF lithography to the 32nm node and below. Read more >>

In another aggressive move to push ahead of its foundry competitors, GlobalFoundries is side-stepping the purchase of pre-production EUV tools and moving directly to production tool sets at Fab 8 in upstate New York, according to Gregg Bartlett, Senior Vice President of Technology and R&D at the foundry, during a keynote address at SEMICON West. The EUV tool, expected to be supplied by ASML will be installed in the second half of 2012, Bartlett said. Read more >>

A long-running issue in photomask inspection and more so in relation to EUV technology is the lack of development or existence of the required tools, due to the limited expected market and ROI for the equipment vendor. However, SEMATECH and Carl Zeiss are to now design and develop the industry’s first-ever actinic aerial image metrology system ‘AIMS’ for defect review of EUV photomasks. Read more >>

AZ Electronic Materials is partnering with SEMATECH engineers on resist issues related to EUV lithography, specifically in areas of line edge roughness (LER) reduction below 22nm as well as the ultimate resolution of new resists. Testing imaging materials for EUV sensitivity will also be covered. The work will be carried at SEMATECH’s Resist Materials and Development Center (RMDC) at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the University at Albany. Read more >>

ASML is now engaged in “full integration” of the NXE: 3100 EUV scanner expected to begin shipping in the second half of this year, ASML product marketing director Rard de Leeuw said at the Sematech Litho Forum in New York City. Six of the EUV systems, capable of 60 wph throughputs, will be shipped in the second half of this year, kicking off process development activities in preparation for high-volume manufacturing. ASML’s roadmap calls for the high-volume NXT:3300B EUV scanner to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2012. Read more >>

The Sematech Litho Forum, held in New York City, concluded with the meeting’s traditional  survey, with respondents this year indicating guarded confidence that EUV lithography will be a workhorse solution by 2014 for critical layers. The 131 respondents were asked what type of exposure technology would be employed for the gate and contact layers. In 2012, 60% said double patterning (DP) with 193 nm scanners would pattern those critical layers, largely for 22 nm technology generation devices. Read more >>

Mask write times are getting uncomfortably long, and a potential solution is to employ the multi-electron-beam approach for mask writers. Sematech CEO Dan Armbrust, in a keynote speech at the 2010 Sematech Litho Forum going on this week in New York City, said the consortium may form a multi-beam mask writer program late this year. At least six companies are developing multi-beam direct-write systems for maskless wafer patterning. One or more of those companies may attempt to direct their multi-beam capabilities to the mask writing space, with Vistec Electron Beam GmbH (Jena, Germany) expressing interest in joining the proposed multi-beam mask writer (MBMW) consortium. The two leading mask writer vendors, JEOL and Nuflare, both based in Japan, also may join the planned Sematech program, said a senior Sematech manager based in Albany, N.Y. Read more >>