GÖTTINGEN, GERMANY - Xtreme Technologies GmbH has developed an extreme ultraviolet light source with a power output of 800 watts in a proof-of-principle experiment, nearing the 1-kW level needed for volume EUV lithography production. The gas-discharge-produced plasma light source has been pushed from 500 to 800 W. At its other location in Jena, Germany, the company is working on light sources based on laser-produced plasma.
The light source work is supported by More Moore, a research project funded by the European Commission to support the development of EUVL. The Commission, as part of the Information Society Technologies initiative covered by the sixth Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development, has provided More Moore with a grant of €23.25 million (US$28 million). The aim of the More Moore project, working through its component companies and institutions, is to resolve technical problems of EUVL so the technology can be introduced for volume production by 2010.
EUV requires the use of a new plasma light source that is heated to 300,000 degrees Celsius.
“This power scaling is the most significant achievement so far and we credit our participation in More Moore for helping us reach this important milestone,” said Christian Ziener, deputy director of R&D for Xtreme.
“This breakthrough, which also marks the half-way point in a three-year project, has outperformed our expectations and is close to the power specifications for the term of the project,” added Rob Hartman, leader of the More Moore project.
The 36-month More Moore project began in early 2004 and is led by ASML Holding NV of the Netherlands. ASML (Veldhoven, The Netherlands) is developing two alpha EUV lithography tools for delivery some time in the second quarter, with one going to the IMEC research center (Leuven, Belgium) and the other headed to University of Albany nanotechnology campus, New York.
Other companies involved in the More Moore project include Phystex, Zeiss, AMTC, Philips EUV, Focus, Sigma-C, AZ Electronic Materials, Schott Lithotec, Philips, Xenocs, Sagem Defense Securite, Imagine Optic, Eppra, and Media Lario. Academic and research institutions participating include IMEC, CEA Leti, CNRS, TNO, FOM Rijnhuizen, Fraunhofer Institute, ISAN (Russian Institute of Science), ENEA, Elettra, and NCSR as well as the universities of Bielefeld, Mainz and Delft.
Xtreme Technologies was founded in March 2001 as a joint venture between Lambda Physik AG (Göttingen) and Jenoptik AG’s subsidiary Jenoptik Laser Optik Systeme GmbH (Jena). The shares of Lambda Physik are now owned by Ushio Inc. of Japan.