University of Albany NanoTech and IMEC to Collaborate on EUV Lithography Research

Researchers from the UAlbany NanoTech and IMEC (Leuven, Belgium) consortia, together with lithographers from IBM Corp. and ASML Holding NV (Veldhoven, Netherlands), will collaborate on extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography research.

The collaboration comes as the ASML alpha demonstration tools (ADTs) at both Albany NanoTech and IMEC are being upgraded with higher-power sources of the EUV radiation.

An initial upgrade will boost the source power at the intermediate focus to ~5-10 W, enough to process ~5 wph with full-field exposures. In the second quarter of 2008, plans call for the source power and debris mitigation modules to be upgraded again, giving IMEC and Albany NanoTech ~10 wph capabilities, according to Kurt Ronse, lithography program director at IMEC.

Ronse said, “Since EUV is still in a development phase, the alpha demo tools have to be upgraded occasionally. By opening our facilities for each others’ EUV experiments, we can guarantee acceleration of EUV research to our industrial partners.”

The majority of the EUV activities will focus on the advanced imaging capabilities of the ADTs, “with additional effort devoted to the understanding of new materials and various aspects of equipment technology,” the announcement said.

Alain Kaloyeros, chief administrative officer at the University of Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE), said, “The UAlbany NanoCollege is pleased to partner with IMEC, the leading European R&D organization, and welcome our IMEC colleagues to CNSE’s Albany NanoTech Complex, where together with our partners from IBM and ASML, we have a unique opportunity to enable significant advances in EUVL technology that are vital to the manufacturing of future generations of nanoelectronics devices."

Courtesy: Staff - Semiconductor International