ASML/Applied team up on 65nm 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 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 and resist related issues with the goal of preparing immersion lithography for production use by 2007.