News Article
ASML and Applied team up on 65nm-process technology
Dutch lithography company ASML and US semiconductor equipment behemoth Applied Materials have joined forces to speed up the development of 65nm and below process equipment technology.
Dutch lithography company ASML and US semiconductor equipment behemoth Applied Materials have joined forces to speed up the development of 65nm and below process equipment technology.
Under the deal, ASML will deliver an immersion lithography system to Applied Materials' Maydan Technology Centre in early-2005. The scanner will be used by Applied and its customers to develop and test processes for production chip manufacturing.
"Matching advanced lithography with process system development is becoming critical to achieving the dimensional control and rapid yield ramps required by chipmakers for manufacturing sub-90nm designs," said Mark Pinto, senior vice president of Applied Materials.
"Having ASML's most advanced system in our world-class development facility provides us with the unique capability to merge the requirements of lithography with a host of other process equipment challenges facing the industry, with the goal of offering timely, reliable, production-ready solutions."
ASML is also working with Belgium research centre IMEC – an expert in the fields of nanoelectronics and nanotechnology - on developing a sub-45nm research platform based on advanced lithography.
The IMEC research will investigate process-related issues including defectivity and resist-related issues with the goal of preparing immersion lithography for production use by 2007.
"The worldwide decision to move to immersion lithography was made late, forcing companies to develop processes in a very limited time. IMEC's unique joint research model in combination with its strategic alliance with ASML, which allows development on pre-production tools, offers an ideal solution to test and move technology into production-ready mode in a short timeframe," said Luc Van den Hove, vice president, silicon process and device technology, IMEC.
Under the deal, ASML will deliver an immersion lithography system to Applied Materials' Maydan Technology Centre in early-2005. The scanner will be used by Applied and its customers to develop and test processes for production chip manufacturing.
"Matching advanced lithography with process system development is becoming critical to achieving the dimensional control and rapid yield ramps required by chipmakers for manufacturing sub-90nm designs," said Mark Pinto, senior vice president of Applied Materials.
"Having ASML's most advanced system in our world-class development facility provides us with the unique capability to merge the requirements of lithography with a host of other process equipment challenges facing the industry, with the goal of offering timely, reliable, production-ready solutions."
ASML is also working with Belgium research centre IMEC – an expert in the fields of nanoelectronics and nanotechnology - on developing a sub-45nm research platform based on advanced lithography.
The IMEC research will investigate process-related issues including defectivity and resist-related issues with the goal of preparing immersion lithography for production use by 2007.
"The worldwide decision to move to immersion lithography was made late, forcing companies to develop processes in a very limited time. IMEC's unique joint research model in combination with its strategic alliance with ASML, which allows development on pre-production tools, offers an ideal solution to test and move technology into production-ready mode in a short timeframe," said Luc Van den Hove, vice president, silicon process and device technology, IMEC.
