Product Briefing Outline: Next generation semiconductor production will be facilitated by a new product introduced by Brion Technologies, a division of ASML. Brion’s new Tachyon NXE is the result of a multi-year investment by ASML and Brion to accurately model the performance of NXE scanners, which are designed to provide accurate predictive modeling specifically for ASML Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) scanners. The accurate EUV modeling in Tachyon NXE is claimed to reduce both the development time and cost to produce chips on EUV systems.
Problem: The need to provide widespread access to the accurate NXE:3100 and NXE:3300 scanner models and to continuously improve the entire lithographic process for IC manufacturers preparing to migrate to next generation EUV lithography processes.
Solution: The Tachyon NXE software package is designed to seamlessly integrate with existing Tachyon products to enable the simulation of the EUV lithography process. In developing Tachyon NXE, Brion has incorporated TWINSCAN NXE:3100 scanner characteristics, models, and data to accurately describe the optical performance of the system. By simulating the behavior of the new scanner in software, this Tachyon NXE model can efficiently predict and correct NXE-specific effects before the start of chip production, helping to decrease EUV mask re-spins and shorten the learning cycles during final mask development. Manufacturability Check (Tachyon LMC) applications from Brion can now incorporate the new software model of ASML’s EUV pre-production scanners, six of which will ship before mid-2011. These applications have been optimized for accuracy, file size and run-time as uniquely required by EUV. In multiple DRAM test cases, Brion has demonstrated the capability to perform full field (~8 cm2) EUV mask data correction in less than 8 hours on a single Tachyon system.
Applications: ASML Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) scanners.
Platform: Computational lithography is the use of computer modeling to predict, correct, optimize and verify imaging performance of the lithography process over a range of patterns, processes, and system conditions.
Availability: September 2010 onwards.