European Group to Focus on UV Lithography

An industrial consortium headed by ASM Lithography (ASML), partnered by Carl Zeiss and Oxford Instruments, has begun a European research program focused on extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) for integrated circuit manufacturing. The European Commission is providing $8.68 million in partial funding to the program, which will operate within the Extreme UV Concept Lithography Development System (EUCLIDES), part of the Esprit program. The consortium will evaluate EUVL as a viable lithographic solution for resolutions of 0.07 µm and below, with an aim toward further tool-integration projects.

Focusing on R&D for optical design, mirror substrates, optics metrology, high-reflectivity multi-layer coatings and vacuum stages, the project is aimed toward demonstrating technical solutions to a number of potential EUVL showstoppers within EUCLIDES.

The partners will perform a comparative study between plasma sources and synchrotron sources, and will also investigate total system architecture to ensure a viable system concept—in other words, can the technology meet semiconductor industry requirements at an acceptable cost of ownership for volume manufacturing.