ASML Partners with Nippon Control System to Streamline Process Flow from Design to Mask Production
ASML has announced a partnership with Nippon Control System Corporation (NCS) to integrate their products from optical proximity correction (OPC) to mask data preparation (MDP) on a common platform, delivering improvements in mask tape-out productivity and patterning performance in wafer fabrication. Semiconductor manufacturers will now be able to deploy ASML's computational lithography products and NCS' MDP products into a seamless process flow for a faster and more accurate design to mask (D2M) solution.
The collaboration addresses the challenges customers are facing in mask tape-out and wafer patterning driven by growing mask complexity with shrinking process nodes in both multiple patterning and EUV applications. Specific integration examples and benefits include:
- A complete MDP flow to identify and improve mask accuracy required for pattern fidelity, critical dimension uniformity (CDU) and overlay performance;
- A seamless processing and handling of large volumes of data between OPC and MDP operations to reduce cycle time and optimize productivity, while maximizing utilization of available computing resources.
"By connecting ASML's OPC and NCS' MDP in an integrated tape-out flow, we have efficiently utilized computing clusters and greatly reduced our design to mask cycle time," said Laurent Tuo, Fellow and Technical Director at TSMC. "Such connectivity also enables mask process enhancements based on OPC output to deliver better imaging performance and more robust process window."
An integrated OPC and MDP solution is of greater importance for EUV lithography. "Mask proximity effects are stronger with electron back scattering from the multi-layer mask stack composed of heavy metal elements," said Nobuyasu Horiuchi, President of NCS. "An integrated EUV MDP solution flow will help accurately model and correctly handle mask making and wafer imaging processes that impact CDU in EUV lithography."
"Together with NCS, we are enabling complete solutions from design to mask and driving wafer patterning performance to support our customers' roadmaps at leading-edge nodes," said Christophe Fouquet, Executive Vice President of Applications at ASML. "This partnership will further extend the scanner imaging and overlay capabilities, by incorporating MDP in the holistic lithography solutions that consist of computational lithography, wafer lithography, metrology and process control."
