FEB. 26–NORWALK, Conn.–Arch Microelectronic Materials and its joint venture partner, Fuji Photo Film, are upgrading a new cleanroom with 193-nanometer tools to support advanced and next-generation photoresist product development and manufacturing.

The investment is being made at FUJIFILM Arch, the two companies’ joint venture in Japan. Additional new capital and facility investments for next-generation photoresists are also underway at Arch Microelectronics’ Advanced Technology and Manufacturing Center, located in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.

The investments in Japan include a tool set that features the latest generation top-down advanced SEM, which is already operational, and the ASML PAS 5500/1100 193-nm high NA scanner and Tokyo Electron TEL ACT 8 advanced wafer track, both of which will be operational in early March at the joint venture’s Shizuoka, Japan complex. The tool set will make Fuji Photo Film’s current and future support of the development of advanced photoresists far more effective.

A complementary tool set is in the planning stage for Arch’s Rhode Island facility, as Arch has already installed Schlumberger’s Yosemite Ultra Low Voltage CDSEM as part of a joint-development agreement.