Jan. 10, 2002 – San Diego, CA – Cymer Inc. has unveiled its latest krypton fluoride (KrF) production light source-the ELS-7000.

Designed for next-generation lithography applications at the 248nm wavelength, the ELS-7000 will be an enabler in the production of devices with sub-130nm design rules, Cymer said.

By also providing high spectral power, the ELS-7000 fulfills customers’ demand for a 4kHz KrF system that addresses increasingly aggressive performance and cost requirements.

According to G. Dan Hutcheson, CEO of San Jose, CA-based market research firm VLSI Research, Cymer’s latest KrF light source will open a new window of opportunity by giving the industry the option to extend KrF lithography down to 130nm geometries and below. “To meet heightened demands on equipment capability, integrators will need a highly line-narrowed, high-power, high-repetition-rate KrF excimer light source that will allow them to reduce geometry sizes, improve throughput, and reduce operating costs at the 248nm wavelength.”

According to Cymer, the ELS-7000 provides customers with the flexibility to mix and match the KrF and ArF products to accommodate multiple deep-ultraviolet wavelengths-in this case, 248 and 193nm in the same manufacturing environment.