Carl Zeiss Secures Two Orders for EUV Semiconductor Lithography Systems
Two of the four members of the SEMATECH EMI Partnership have placed orders with Carl Zeiss to purchase an actinic aerial image metrology system AIMS EUV for reviewing defects in advanced masks needed for extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL).
GLOBALFOUNDRIES, Intel, Samsung Electronics, and TSMC are the members of the SEMATECH EMI Partnership.
"The orders represent an important milestone in the development of AIMS EUV and confirm the relevance of EUV technology for the industry. We expect the remaining two EMI members to place their orders in accordance with their slot assignments agreed upon at the start of the EMI consortium." says Oliver Kienzle, Managing Director of Carl Zeiss SMS.
Carl Zeiss touts the AIMS EUV platform as a critical tool for the development and manufacturing of defect-free EUVL masks supporting the 22 nm half-pitch (HP) technology node requirements. It can also be extended to the 16 nm HP node. the first production version of the platform is scheduled for delivery in the third quarter of 2014.
SEMATECH launched EMI in 2010 to fill a key infrastructure gap for EUV in the area of mask manufacturing, by funding development of critical metrology tools. EMI is administered by SEMATECH's Lithography Program, based at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the University at Albany.
