Small Times

Aug. 29, 2006 – ASML Holding NV announced that it shipped two extreme ultraviolet (EUV) alpha demo tools to customers.

Both the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the State University of New York at Albany, N.Y., and the nanoelectronics research institute IMEC in Leuven, Belgium, have received full field EUV systems.

Both institutions will use these R&D tools after installation to conduct ongoing research into next generation lithography technology. ASML says the shipments were made possible after it achieved key lithography performance targets including full field scanning imaging and overlay.

ASML considers EUV as the most attractive technology for 32 nm and beyond, according to a company statement, because of its potential to be the most cost effective technology and its extendibility to multiple nodes. Earlier this year at the SPIE Microlithography conference the company presented proof-of-concept 35-nm resist images obtained over a full slit of 26 mm, made on one of these systems. ASML expects that these alpha demo tools to be essential in developing the infrastructure for EUV lithography.

“ASML’s investment in EUV demonstrates our commitment to developing long term solutions for our customers and maintaining our technology leadership,” said Martin van den Brink, executive vice president of marketing and technology at ASML, in a prepared statement. “Many industry partners will now get a chance to work with EUV technology which should help EUV enter into the next important phase of development. While these tools are research systems, pre-production EUV lithography tools could be shipped as early as 2009 depending on customer commitment.”