Nikon races to NA=1.0 and beyond
The Japanese company plans to be the first company in the world to ship a system with a projection lens NA of 1.0 or greater. The system will be aimed at mass production of 60nm devices and advanced development of 45nm devices.
Immersion lithography provides higher resolution and better depth of focus with minimal change to the process. Many semiconductor manufacturers will require immersion lithography for device shrinks below 65nm.
Nikon started basic development for this technology early on and feasibility studies have been performed jointly with Tokyo Electron (TEL) since June 2003. As a result of these activities, no bottlenecks preventing the realisation of ArF immersion exposure were identified. It was consequently decided to move the technology to the development stage in December 2003.
In 2004, Nikon will begin customer demonstrations and evaluations on an ArF immersion engineering system. The development will be based on the currently marketed NSR-S307E, with a projection lens NA of 0.85. In the following year, 2005, the initial mass production tool with NA of 1.0 or greater will be completed based on a successor to the NSR-S307E.
Geoff Wild, CEO of Nikon Precision, comments: "Our customers need an immersion system with an NA of 1.0 or greater and no one else has the lens technology and immersion expertise to deliver a tool in 2005. We've made significant progress with immersion development, enabling us to accelerate our schedule."
