Cymer unveils immersion-lithography light source at Semicon West
San Francisco, CA, July 13, 2004--At Semicon West (held July 12 to 14, 2004 at the Moscone Center), Cymer Inc. (San Diego, CA), which supplies deep-ultraviolet light sources used in semiconductor manufacturing, unveiled what the company claims is the world's first excimer light source designed to support 45-nm immersion photolithography applications.
The XLA 200, a third-generation master-oscillator power-amplifier (MOPA)-based argon fluoride (ArF) light source, is targeted for volume production of semiconductor devices at the 45-nm node and beyond. Intended for use in ArF immersion scanners, the light source delivers a combination of high output power, ultranarrowed bandwidth, and accurate on-board E95 metrology. (In immersion lithography, a fluid such as water occupies the space between the lithographic projection lens and the wafer, resulting in a higher numerical aperture (NA) and thus a smaller linewidth. It is the latest in a long line of strategies designed to push optical lithography to its limits.)
According to Cymer president and chief operating officer Pascal Didier, Cymer is dedicated to innovating and supporting the world's most advanced lithography light sources for its customers. "Just as water is enabling the industry to extend the 193-nm wavelength to smaller line widths, the flexibility provided by Cymer's innovative MOPA architecture easily extends to meet the exacting demands of the new immersion-lithography scanners."
Operating at a 4-kHz repetition rate and delivering up to 60 W of output power, the XLA 200 is designed to provide immersion-ready imaging capability for advanced 200-mm and 300-mm lithography scanners. By offering the highest power and ultranarrowed bandwidth--less than or equal to 0.12 pm at full-width half maximum (FWHM) and less than or equal to 0.25 pm at 95% energy integral--the XLA 200 enables exposure of the most-critical semiconductor features using lens designs with an NA of greater than 1.0. Cymer offers the industry's most accurate onboard E95 bandwidth metrology as a standard feature on the XLA 200.
The XLA 200 debuts four months after Cymer introduced the XLA 105 and two years after Cymer introduced the industry's first MOPA-based light source, the XLA 100. With more than 50 XL Series light sources already installed at chipmakers around the world, Cymer leverages its production-proven dual-chamber platform to offer its third generation in the XL Series family of light source products. The MOPA platform can be seamlessly integrated to enable rapid ramp-to-yield time for leading-edge processes. Deliveries of the first XLA 200 are scheduled for the first quarter of 2005.