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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 >>

Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials has announced the opening on June 26th of its new $60 million immersion lithography facility in Marlborough, MA. The facility, which is fully equipped and has begun processing wafers, was established to support the company’s R&D in the area of advanced 193nm lithography materials for semiconductor applications. Read more >>

Cymer has signed a multi-year unit agreement with Toshiba that includes purchasing and support for krypton fluoride (KrF) and argon fluoride (ArF) light sources in Toshiba's future 300mm investment plans. Read more >>

HamaTech Advanced Process Equipment (HamaTech APE) has said it has reached a new milestone for its 45nm capable MaskTrack photomask cleaning system with the shipment of its 30th tool. Read more >>

Bucking a slowdown in the semiconductor industry, the sales of photoresist chemicals continued to grow for the sixth year in a row, according to new figures released by Gartner. Key to the continued sales expansion is the migration to 193nm ArF lithography and the accompanying higher cost resists required for both dry and immersion technologies. According to Gartner, the photoresist market revenue showed 14.5 percent growth in 2007, reaching $1.2 billion in revenues. 193nm resists made up 28 percent of the market in 2007. Read more >>

Although EUVL remains the favored choice by lithography experts for semiconductor imaging at the 22nm node, according to attendees at the 3rd SEMATECH Litho Forum in May, IBM and Toppan Printing have said that they are now collaborating on all phases of 22nm photomask process development using 193nm ArF immersion lithography technology. Initially, the two companies started development of photomask fabrication processes for the 45nm node in 2005 that was followed up with a 32nm agreement in 2007. Read more >>

A major semiconductor IC manufacturer based in Asia has placed a multi-million euro order with Vistec that includes one LMS IPRO4 and one LWM9045 system, which are used for advanced photomask metrology applications. Read more >>

The Si2 Design-for-Manufacturability Coalition has welcomed Takumi Technology as its newest member. Takumi follows in the footsteps of Intel, Infineon, Mentor Graphics, UMC and STARC, who joined the association in January. Si2 was founded to maintain standards between EDA software tools and manufacturing software and now represents nearly 100 companies in all areas of the silicon supply chain. Read more >>

Swiss research facility, the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), has purchased an EBPG5000plus electron beam lithography system from Vistec Lithography. The system will be used at the Laboratory for Micro– and Nanotechnology (LMN) for the research on the optic, electronic, and magnetic properties of nanostructures as well as for the development of nano-devices for internal and external customers. Read more >>