ASML announced today broad support for its holistic lithography products that the toolmaker introduced last year at SEMICON West — products designed to optimize litho scanner performance, widening the process window. ASML said that 100% of its leading-edge scanners (primarily the NXT:1950i model) are now sold with at least one holistic lithography component.
Coming about in large part because of ASML’s acquisition of Brion Technologies in early 2007, holistic lithography integrates computational lithography, wafer lithography and process control to optimize production tolerances for chipmakers. Customers have adopted multiple products from the portfolio — including source mask optimization (SMO), FlexRay, LithoTuner, Baseliner and YieldStar — into R&D and volume manufacturing.
Source mask optimization (SMO) is a key component of ASML’s holistic lithography approach.Also gaining momentum, particularly since the end of last year and this year, is ASML’s Eclipse, which is a customized integrated package of products and services geared toward specific customers, nodes and applications. “The idea there is to try shrink the very last bit of performance that we can out of a process by leveraging this scanner, and the capabilities we have developed over the past several years,” said Bernardo Kastrup, director of applications products for ASML.
STMicroelectronics is one example of a chipmaker that will incorporate Eclipse with its NXT:1950i scanner for the 28 nm node, focused on improving overlay and CD uniformity (CDU). ST’s package includes a full range of products, including scanner tuning products, immersion scanner application, stabilization and conditioning, and applications support. Preparations for Eclipse at the next node have started with a feasibility study on 20 nm critical layer printing options.
“To optimize development cycle times and manufacturing solutions for 28 nm and beyond, ST is working closely with ASML to define targets, processes and design parameters,” said Joel Hartmann, Technology R&D Group vice president and general manager advanced CMOS, derivatives and eNVM technology at STMicroelectronics in Crolles, France.
ASML’s holistic lithography approach is a direction the industry has taken to get the most out of existing tools, delaying the inevitability of double patterning and/or EUV lithography. It enables chipmakers to “really pull all of the tricks from the bag and continue to shrink,” Kastrup said.
— Aaron Hand, SEMICON West Daily News