EUV systems prepare to ship EUV infrastructure makes ... · PDF filemakes progress towards...
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ASML’s customer magazine | 2010 Summer Edition EUV systems prepare to ship EUV infrastructure makes progress towards manufacturing TWINSCAN extendibility continues to drive value
Transcript of EUV systems prepare to ship EUV infrastructure makes ... · PDF filemakes progress towards...
ASML’s customer magazine | 2010 Summer Edition
EUV systems prepare to ship
EUV infrastructure makes progress towards
manufacturing
TWINSCAN extendibility continues to drive value
3 Editor’s note
4 ASML in the News
6 TWINSCAN NXE systems
prepare to ship
8 EUV Lithography progress toward
manufacturing
12 TWINSCAN NXT:1950i –
one system, multiple nodes
14 TWINSCAN H systems drive higher
value of ownership
2
images | Colofon
Editorial Board
Lucas van Grinsven, Peter Jenkins
Managing Editor
Ryan Young
Contributing Writers
Hans Meiling, Christian Wagner,
Angelique Nachtwein, Marco Pieters, Kars Troost,
Frank Bornebroek, Christophe Fouquet,
Stuart Cherry, Ed Korczynski
Circulation
Emily Leung, Michael Pullen, Shirley Wijtman
For more information, please see:
www.asml.com/images
© 2010, ASML Holding BV
ASML, ASM Lithography, TWINSCAN, PAS 5500,
PAS 5000, SA 5200, ATHENA, QUASAR, IRIS, ILIAS,
FOCAL, Micralign, Micrascan, 3DAlign, 2DStitching,
3DMetrology, Brion Technologies, LithoServer,
LithoGuide, Scattering Bars, LithoCruiser, Tachyon
2.0, Tachyon RDI, Tachyon LMC, Tachyon OPC+,
LithoCool, AGILE, ImageTuner, EFESE, Feature Scan,
T-ReCS and the ASML logo are trademarks of ASML
Holding N.V. or of affiliate companies. The trademarks
may be used either alone or in combination with
a further product designation. Starlith, AERIAL,
and AERIAL II are trademarks of Carl Zeiss. TEL is
a trademark of Tokyo Electron Limited. Sun, Sun
Microsystems, the Sun Logo, iForce, Solaris, and the
Java logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of
Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other
countries. Bayon is a trademark of Kureha Chemical
Industry Co. Ltd. Nothing in this publication is intended
to make representations with regard to whether any
trademark is registered or to suggest that any sign
other than those mentioned should not be considered
to be a trademark of ASML or of any third party.
ASML lithography systems are Class 1 laser products.
6 8 14
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ASML Images, Summer Edition 2010
Editor’s note
…that seems to be the question everyone
in semiconductors is asking these days.
Chris Mack, Gentleman Scientist and
Vivek Bakshi, President of EUV Litho,
Inc. have a well-known wager about
the number of EUV papers that will be
presented at SPIE Advanced Lithography
2011 (Chris predicts zero EUV papers and
his Lotus is up for grabs).
If this year’s symposium held in February,
in San Jose is any indication, Chris should
start preparing his car’s title transfer. The
2010 SPIE Advanced Litho symposium
featured more than 100 EUV papers and
presentations including a panel discussion
titled “The Trial of EUV and DPT ArF for
the 22nm 1/2 Pitch Node” presented in
mock trial format. Symposium chairs
Donis Flagello and Chris Progler served
as judges complete with British court
robes and powdered wigs.
So, what is ASML’s position on EUV?
As litho engineers, fab managers and
semiconductor executives you have to
balance interests and make important
decisions, especially so in the current era
of low-K1 manufacturing and emerging
new chip architectures. One thing is clear
however, and that is that Moore’s Law
drives our industry and feature shrink
drives Moore’s Law as it continues to cut
costs effectively and consistently.
At ASML we are focused on giving you
the opportunity to shrink feature size and
increase productivity, thus bringing down
the cost of your devices. This is why we
are both invested in and committed to
seeing EUV becoming reality in coming
years. It is simply the most cost effective
way for you to produce semiconductors
during the next decade.
Of course, EUV is not without challenges.
Source power has to improve, mask
inspection needs more work, and resist
needs further development (no pun
intended). However, substantive progress
has been made and the remaining
challenges are engineering hurdles, not
show stoppers. ASML’s two EUV Alpha
Demo Tools (ADT) at imec and CNSE
have contributed greatly to the research
of EUV processing and the development
of ASML’s NXE production platform.
Samsung, TSMC, Global Foundries and
Hynix, among others have demonstrated
record imaging results using these tools.
All this learning gets put to good use later
this year when ASML begins shipping six
TWINSCAN NXE:3100 pre-production
systems. These six systems will go to
memory, logic, foundry and research
customers for continuing EUV process
development. More importantly, these
systems will also be instrumental in
driving the remaining infrastructure
required to bring EUV to full production.
You will read more about our EUV
program and the rapidly expanding
infrastructure in this issue.
Our work on EUV amounts to the biggest
research and development activity we have
undertaken in our 26 years of company
history, but we realize that not everyone can
or wants to jump on the EUV bandwagon
and this is why we continue to invest heavily
in the shrink and production capabilities
of current ArF immersion production
lines. Our latest TWINSCAN:NXT 1950i
is fast becoming the Double-Patterning
scanner of choice, thanks to its high
productivity, unparalleled overlay and CD
uniformity. What’s more, is that we extend
the capabilities of ArF immersion for many
years to come by expanding our portfolio of
Holistic Lithography products that help you
increase the tolerances of your chip designs
and improve your control over production
systems while manufacturing chips. Without
a doubt, Double Patterning will remain a
feature in the semiconductor manufacturing
landscape, and we are committed to
making it more stable and cost-effective.
I hope you will enjoy this issue and feel
supported in the important work that lies
ahead of you.
Ryan Young
To EUV or not to EUV By Ryan Young, Senior Manager Communications
ASML in the News
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ASMLin the News
ASML solid projectASML and Brion Technologies extend partnership with STMicroelectronics for integrated lithography solutions for advanced chip
Veldhoven, the Netherlands, December 3, 2009 - ASML, along with its subsidiary
Brion Technologies, announced a broad-scoped joint development project with
STMicroelectronics (ST) to accelerate 28-nm node deployment and 22-nm node
development. This joint development project, code-named SOLID (Silicon printing
Optimization with Lithography control and Integrated Design), seeks to optimize the
patterning process from design to manufacturing, extend characterization tools and
methods to develop new correction/compensation techniques for reducing variability
and explore breakthrough lithography solutions for manufacturing complex chips at
sub-30-nm nodes.
ST will work with TachyonTM SMO source-mask co-optimization in tandem with
ASML’s advanced illumination sources, including the recently announced FlexRayTM
programmable illuminator. Together Tachyon SMO and FlexRay will provide ST
faster development cycles in R&D and faster ramp to production. Till now, ST has
successfully used Brion’s Tachyon OPC+ optical proximity correction and LMC
lithography manufacturability check in its 45-nm production.
Chartered adopts Brion’s computational lithography solutions Santa Clara, California, USA, November 2, 2009 – Brion Technologies, an
ASML company, reached a multi-year agreement with Chartered Semiconductor
Manufacturing Ltd., one of the world’s top dedicated semiconductor foundries,
to implement a broad suite of computational lithography products. Chartered will
use TachyonTM OPC+ (optical proximity correction), Tachyon LMC (lithography
manufacturability check), and Tachyon resolution enhancement products to design
and manufacture 45-nanometer (nm) and below technology node devices.
Brion’s Tachyon products will help Chartered optimize its ASML scanners to provide a
comprehensive lithography solution with optimal cost of ownership. Brion will work with
Chartered to implement Tachyon computational products to deliver larger manufacturing
process windows resulting in improved line width control for higher yield.
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EUVTSMC to take delivery of an ASML EUV lithography system for research and development on future technology generations. Agreement underscores TSMC’s continuing investment in the European semiconductor community.
Veldhoven, the Netherlands and
Hsinchu Taiwan, R.O.C. — February
22, 2010 - ASML Holding NV (ASML)
announced that Taiwan Semiconductor
Manufacturing Company (TWSE: 2330,
NYSE: TSM) will take delivery of a
TWINSCAN NXE:3100 extreme ultra-
violet (EUV) lithography system. This
tool represents one of six NXE:3100 EUV
systems for ASML’s worldwide partners
and customers.
TSMC is expected to be the first
dedicated foundry conducting on-site
EUV development and will install the
new system on its Fab 12 GigaFab™ for
development of future technology nodes.
EUV technology employs a much shorter
wavelength and has the potential to
reduce costs associated with current
techniques used to stretch 193-nm
immersion lithography, making it a
promising lithography technology for
manufacturing IC’s for future advanced
technology nodes. TSMC is evaluating
EUV and other lithography technologies
for their potential to optimize cost-
effective manufacturing at future
technology nodes.
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ASML Images, Summer Edition 2010
For complete information regarding these press announcements, please refer to the press section of www.asml.com.
Flexray enjoys market succesASML FlexRay Illuminators Successfully Enter Market as Chip Makers Seek Design Flexibility for Continued
Veldhoven, the Netherlands, February
22, 2010 - ASML Holding NV (ASML)
announced its new FlexRay programmable
illumination system is finding strong
acceptance by providing chip makers
with virtually unlimited illumination source
tuning. Faster, more flexible source tuning
is essential for customers making full use
of ASML’s powerful source and mask
optimization (SMO) software aimed at
continued chip feature shrink, initially in
R&D and later proliferation in production.
As chip designs shrink, more and more
source-mask tuning is required to maintain
a workable process window, resulting in the
need of many complex pupil shapes. ASML’s
FlexRay freeform illuminator makes it easier
and faster to create and implement those
custom shapes in volume manufacturing.
FlexRay offers a higher-level of control and
tighter pupil specifications than previous
solutions, enabling better tool-to-tool
matching and improved critical dimension
uniformity (CDU), or chip structure accuracy.
The first FlexRay unit was shipped to a Logic
customer in December 2009 and is already
in use for both development work and low
volume production. ASML has received
orders for multiple units from leading Logic,
Memory and Foundry customers, and
will begin shipping in volume this quarter
on TWINSCAN XT:1950i and NXT:1950i
immersion systems.
ASML Ships 100th TWINSCAN XT 19x0 series immersion system while ramping deliveries of new NXT immersion platform
Veldhoven, the Netherlands, February 22, 2010 – ASML Holding NV (ASML)
announced the shipment of its 100th TWINSCAN XT:1900 series lithography system,
capable of imaging industry-leading chip features as small as 38 nanometers.
The XT:19x0 series includes the XT:1900Gi and XT:1950Hi systems, both featuring the
industry’s largest numerical aperture of 1.35. In total, ASML has shipped more than 160
TWINSCAN immersion systems, all capable of imaging sub-60 nm chip features.
TWINSCAN XT:19x0 series immersion systems are the enabling technology behind
the most advanced memory and logic chips in volume production. Semiconductor
manufacturers around the world, including 18 of the world’s top 20, use TWINSCAN
immersion scanners to produce an estimated 350 million chips every month.
ASML Receives Intel’s Preferred Quality Supplier Award
Veldhoven, the Netherlands,
March 3, 2010 – ASML was recognized as one of 16 suppliers to receive Intel
Corporation’s Preferred Quality Supplier (PQS) award for their performance in 2009.
ASML is recognized for their significant contributions, providing Intel with lithography
process tools, deemed essential to Intel’s success.
“ASML is honored to be selected by Intel as a recipient of their Preferred Quality Supplier
award for 2009. This recognition validates a significant mutual effort between our two
companies to achieve world-class quality and performance with systems that are on the
leading edge of innovation and value. Both our companies believe such close alignment is
fundamental to achieving the optimal combination of product performance, manufacturing
cost and time-to-market,” said Frits van Hout, executive vice president and chief marketing
officer, ASML.
“Intel congratulates ASML on earning the Preferred Quality Supplier award for
2009,” said Janice Golda, Lithography Capital Equipment Development director,
Intel Corporation. “ASML has delivered leading edge lithography technology while
continuously improving their quality and customer service. We look forward to building
on this success in the future.”
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TWINSCAN NXE systems prepare to ship By Hans Meiling and Christian Wagner, Directors Product Management EUV
Abstract | ASML will ship the first of its
TWINSCAN NXE systems in the fall of this
year. The first system will be the NXE:3100
with a resolution of 27 nm. It will be followed
in 2012 by the NXE:3300B which targets
volume production at the 22-nm, half-pitch
node. Further TWINSCAN NXE generations
are planned to support the industry’s
migration to 16 nm and beyond.
In the fall of this year, the first systems
from our new TWINSCAN NXE platform
will be shipped. As regular readers of
Images will know, TWINSCAN NXE is
the industry’s first production platform
for EUV lithography. The release of the
first systems will mark an important
step towards mass-production for the
next-generation lithography technology.
The TWINSCAN NXE platform draws on
the technological achievements of our
proven TWINSCAN system platform and
our EUV prototype tools located at imec
in Belgium and CNSE in Albany, NY.
It features our familiar TWINSCAN
dual-stage architecture, which increases
throughput by allowing one wafer to
be exposed while the next one is
being measured.
This is combined with a six-mirror lens
developed by our optics partner Carl Zeiss
SMT AG. The optical column design is
extendible in NA, supporting continued
feature shrink beyond 16 nm. Meanwhile,
the EUV radiation is produced by tin-based
plasma sources, with multiple suppliers
committed to boosting source power to
match our productivity roadmap.
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ASML Images, Summer Edition 2010
in imaging, overlay and throughput, the
NXE:3300B will target volume production
at the 22-nm half-pitch node.
It will feature a projection lens with an
NA of 0.32 using the same six-mirror
concept as in the NXE:3100 to maintain
high system transmission. As standard,
the NXE:3300B will offer conventional
illumination with a variable partial
coherence up to 0.9. A commercial
option will make six additional discrete
settings for off-axis illumination available.
More on the horizon
The creation of an EUV system platform will
allow us to reduce costs while maximizing
reliability and cutting development times for
future systems. Further NXE generations
are planned to support the industry’s
migration to 16-nm half-pitch and beyond.
This will allow semiconductors to
continue using single-exposure, optical
lithography techniques for a number
of future product generation, enabling
significant productivity and cost of
ownership benefits.
Production this year
The first TWINSCAN NXE systems to be
delivered will be the NXE:3100, a 0.25-NA
production tool with a resolution of 27 nm.
Six of these systems will be produced
– all of which have already been
ordered. First light and wafer exposure is
expected in June, allowing EUV process
development to start this year.
The NXE:3100 will deliver a throughput
of up to 60 wafers per hour (wph). Its
plasma-based EUV source operates
in a burst mode, with a burst length of
400 ms supporting full-field exposure
at full throughput with a resist dose of
10 mJ/cm2. Burst lengths of 2 seconds
and longer have been demonstrated to
support higher dose resists.
Zeiss has already delivered 5 projection
lens units for the NXE:3100. These units
show good and consistent flare and
aberration performance ensuring
excellent imaging and overlay capabilities.
Volume manufacturing coming soon
Following on from the NXE:3100, we will
launch a second-generation EUV tool in
2012. Delivering improved performance
System specifications
Industry’s first production platform for EUV lithography
NXE:3100 NXE:3300B
NA 0.25 0.32
Illumination Conventional, 0.8σ Conventional, 0.2-0.9σ
Off-axis as an option
Resolution ≤ 27 nm ≤ 22 nm
Field size 26 x 33 mm 26 x 33 mm
Single-machine overlay (SMO) 4.5 nm 3.5 nm
Matched machine overlay (MMO) 7.0 nm 5.0 nm
Throughput 60 wph 125 wph
Resist dose 10 mJ/cm2 15 mJ/cm2
Brion Technologies ready to support
NXE based EUV mask corrections
With EUV, as with all newly introduced
optical lithography wavelengths, a key
industry challenge will be to reach
manufacturing yields as quickly as
possible and at lowest cost by limiting
R&D cycles and achieving the best imaging
and CDU performance. ASML’s Brion
Technologies provides an accurate OPC
model which will allow customers to push
their TWINSCAN NXE EUV scanners to
their k1 shrink limits.
Due to the ever shrinking feature sizes,
the model accuracy requirement will only
be tighter for EUV simulation and OPC.
To ensure tight model accuracy, it is
important to consider as many physical
factors with impact on CD as possible.
Flare, shadowing effects, and scanner
fingerprint data (such as source map,
aberrations, and apodization) have been
shown to be important for EUV model
quality. Early access to ASML’s NXE
program enables the analysis of these
effects and their impacts on model
accuracy in detail using the Tachyon
computational lithography platform
utilizing NXE specific models.
Brion will be publishing more on
computational litho support for EUV in the
coming months, including in future editions
of this magazine.
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EUV Lithography Progress Toward Manufacturing By Kurt Ronse, imec, Leuven, Belgium
Abstract | Due to minimum resolution limits
of 193nm-immersion (193i) tools, there has
been increasing interest in developing EUV
lithography. EUV lithography uses extreme
UV light (13.5nm wavelength), which allows
for much finer resolution patterning,
but which also requires new tools and
techniques. Currently, imec is patterning
wafers and refining the EUV technique
with the help of ASML’s EUV alpha demo
tool (ADT); its successor, the EUV pre-
production tool (NXE:3100), is scheduled
to be up and running at imec in early 2011.
Our research on EUV lithography really
took off in 2008, when the ADT became
available for imec and its partners
to begin investigating infrastructure
issues intended to get EUV ready for
manufacturing. At that time, we focused
on ~40nm target CDs, for which the ADT
was specified. Now almost two years
later, the typical linewidth that we target
is 25-30nm, which illustrates the progress
that has been made in EUV resist quality.
One critical issue with EUV lithography
has always been the power of the light
source. Long the major obstacle, the
source power outlook has been gradually
improved, such that the industry now has
a roadmap to arrive at a stable high-power
source needed for cost-effective industrial
IC production.
Finding suitable EUV resists is another
challenge. As for the source power, in the
years that we have been working on EUV
resists there has been a lot of progress.
We now have resists to pattern 28nm
features on the ADT, and I am confident
that with effort and time, suitable resists
for 22nm and later on 16nm will be within
reach when used with future exposure
tools. One of the strong points of EUV
lithography is that it can be extended,
even towards the 11nm technology node.
Today’s EUV resists are showing line edge
roughness (LER) <4nm, and also showing
sensitivity of 15 mJ/cm2 or slightly better.
The most promising resists have 25-26nm
resolutions when exposed on the ADT,
which represents a major step forward
from where we started. So there has been
steady progress due to the availability
of some exposure tools for the resist
companies to test their samples, and,
based on feedback, improve formulations
and then test again.
A few years ago there was concern that
chemically-amplified resists (CAR) might
never be able to resolve feature sizes
below 30nm. Now we pattern features
<30nm on a daily basis on the EUV ADT.
If you look at micro-exposure tools around
the world, they are approaching CDs of
~22nm or even 20nm resolution. This is
because these R&D tools have higher
NA—typically 0.3NA—and some off-axis
illumination (OAL) capabilities that are
not available on the ADT. So, the real
question today for EUV resists has shifted
from, ‘Can we do sub-30nm features in
chemically-amplified resist?,’ to,
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ASML Images, Summer Edition 2010
EUV Lithography Progress Toward Manufacturing By Kurt Ronse, imec, Leuven, Belgium
10
‘Can we do sub-20nm features?’ so it
means that in the last few years at least
10nm of CD improvement has been
shown. We are confident that continued
work should also produce resists capable
of resolving sub-20nm features.
Line-edge roughness (LER) is still on the
high side, but has made steady progress.
The sensitivity burden is now a bit more
at source suppliers. The sensitivity
requirements for future tools are no longer
5 mJ/cm2, but more like 10-15 mJ/cm2,
and we are operating in that regime
already today. Alternative resists are being
investigated at universities and also at
companies, and these resists will become
available for testing on real EUV tools in
the near future.
EUV Mask Development
By far the most pressing issues today
for EUV lithography integration into
manufacturing are associated with the
masks. On the wafers that we have
exposed with EUV, we see a lot of
defects that originate from the masks.
Imec has been one of the first to look
into this issue, and we have collected
and published the most relevant data.
The IC industry is keenly interested
in our research, because the mask
issue remains a key challenge for
EUV lithography.
The main concern has been and continues
to be reticle defectivity. The number of
defects made during mask making is too
high, and there is not a clear downward
trend that we can see. In general, the
average number of defects/reticle varies
excessively from one mask shop to another.
What is particularly concerning about
mask defects is that the exact origin
is not completely understood at this
moment. While we know that there are
already a number of defects on the EUV
mask blank, we are not exactly clear
what percentage of these defects will print
on wafers. However, there are also defects
Figure 1 : EUV ADT installed at imec
Figure 3 : HamaTech’s EUV Mask Track Pro
installed at imec
Figure 2 : Cross-section SEM pictures of highest
resolution EUV resists exposed on ADT.
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ASML Images, Summer Edition 2010
arising not due to the mask-blank itself
but due to the absorber layer deposited
on the blank, and these latter should not
be too different from optical photomask
making. In the coming year we should be
able to differentiate between these two
defect types on EUV masks. If so, then the
absorber layer defects that are similar in
feature size to standard optical photomasks
should be much easier to control.
Of course we have a general limitation
today to find defects on EUV lithography
reticles. It is well known today that most
of the standard reticle inspection tools are
not able to find all the printable EUV mask
defects. In particular, the inherently obscure
blank-related defects require a level of
“very high art” to be found with existing
tools. Thus, it is important that SEMATECH
is leading the Extreme Ultraviolet Mask
Infrastructure (EMI) task force, devoted to
the development of dedicated EUV blank
and mask inspection tools.
New actinic inspection tools should
provide 100% detection of EUV printable
defects, but everybody realizes that it
will take 3-5 years in the best case for
such tools to be developed and available,
and EUV lithography cannot wait for that.
So in the meantime, with the existing
infrastructure, we have to determine what
percentage of defects can be found, and
establish workarounds that can allow us
to do 22nm node EUV lithography.
Working with inspection tool suppliers
such as KLA-Tencor and Applied Materials,
imec works to make the correlation
between the defects that can currently
be found and the defects that print on
wafers on the ADT at imec. With the
existing inspection infrastructure we can
find 85-90% of defects that are printing.
This is an important achievement, and
allows us to continue EUV research.
We can start to build smaller devices
and functional circuits that will yield well,
provide necessary learning, and allow us to
continue scaling down to sub-20nm nodes.
Another key infrastructure item that imec
has invested in and that has become
operational now, is an EUV reticle cleaning
track. An obvious issue with EUV reticles
is that they do not have pellicles, so it
is relatively likely that particles will be
continuously added during handling,
transport, and storage. Typical defects
could be particles that deposit or organic
contamination that gradually grows on
the mask; from first principles this type
of contamination should be cleanable.
The important work now starting at imec
is to develop cleaning processes-of-record
(POR) to remove particles and potential
organic contamination from EUV masks,
to keep the defect numbers stable, and to
not have defect adders over the lifetime of
the mask. The challenge is that multiple
cleans will be needed over the lifetime of
the mask. The cleans must be effective,
but not too aggressive in order not to
attack the various layers of materials
on the mask.
Pre-production EUV scanners
The EUV ADT continues to work for us,
and it’s now running much more reliably
with better uptime than it did in the first
year. Greater uptime leads to more wafers
exposed, and with more wafers we can get
more learning cycles, and the pace of all
progress just accelerates.
Nonetheless, we are eagerly anticipating
the installation of an ASML NXE:3100
pre-production EUV Step&Scan system at
imec this year. At that point, we expect an
almost digital jump from work on the ADT
to all work on the NXE:3100.
We are currently focusing on 25-30nm
feature sizes with the ADT. Since the
NXE:3100 will have off-axis illumination
(OAI) capability, we expect to be able to
push the minimum feature size a bit lower.
Since working with OAI allows for the
ability to lower the k1 factor, our target
with that tool will be to go to 22nm and
smaller resolutions.
To be clear, one tool is not enough to
handle all of the work needed to fully
develop EUV lithography for volume
manufacturing. Once multiple NXE:3100
systems are operational in the world, we
can expect a serious tune-up of the entire
EUV lithography infrastructure. Put simply,
the more tools that are operational the
more learning that can be done.
Imec’s IC fab partners who, in some
cases, will obtain an NXE:3100 slightly
before imec look at putting these tools
into something like pilot-production mode.
In doing so, they will begin to learn about
subtleties in tool behavior and look at tool
reliability. Meanwhile, imec will continue
to perform R&D to screen the ultimate
resolution capability, with less focus upon
throughput and tool stability.
Anticipating follow-up tools with slightly
higher NA and reduced lens-flare,
minimum resolution will just continue to
improve. Better resists, more aggressive
OAI, and more aggressive OPC should
break the 20nm threshold, which we
believe is going to be the real insertion
point for EUV lithography. Since work on
the ADT cannot occur in this regime due to
limited resolution capability, the NXE:3100
scanner is the first step toward sub-20nm
patterning for volume production.
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TWINSCAN NXT:1950i one system, multiple nodesBy Angelique Nachtwein and Marco Pieters, Product Managers TWINSCAN NXT
Abstract | The TWINSCAN NXT:1950i was
designed for cost-effective semiconductor
manufacturing at the 32-nm half-pitch node
and below. Through a roadmap of system
enhancements, you can tailor your system
to your needs today and then improve
defectivity, productivity, imaging and overlay
performance well beyond the requirements
of that node. That means this ultra-
precise-overlay, ultra-high-throughput ArF
immersion scanner will continue to deliver
excellent value of ownership across multiple
production nodes.
The TWINSCAN NXT:1950i is an ultra-
precise-overlay, ultra-high-throughput
ArF immersion lithography system
designed for cost-effective semiconductor
manufacturing at the 32-nm half-pitch node.
With overlay below 2.5 nm, it makes double
pattering techniques feasible. Meanwhile
throughputs up to 175 wafers per hour (wph)
under 125 shot ATP condition – 190 wph
under full field conditions – ensure a rapid
return on investment.
But the TWINSCAN NXT:1950i’s value
doesn’t stop when you start transitioning
through the 2x nodes. Our roadmap of
system enhancement packages gives you
the flexibility to tailor your NXT:1950i to
suit your needs today, and then extend
its performance as technology, your
requirements and your business evolve.
In that way, they ensure your TWINSCAN
NXT:1950i continues to deliver cutting-
edge performance and cost-effective
manufacturing over an extended period.
We will be offering options to improve
system performance in all the key areas,
including defectivity, productivity, imaging
and overlay. As standard, the TWINSCAN
NXT:1950i features a novel immersion hood
design that is proven to reduce defects and
we are continually working on new ways to
take defectivity to even lower levels.
For productivity, we currently have two
PEP packages in the pipeline. Due for
release in next year, the PEP NXT:1950i
will push 125 shot ATP throughput up
to 200 wph, and full-field throughput
up to 230 wph. It will be followed by the
PEP High Dose package which increases
the critical dose from 30 to 45 mJ/cm2,
improving productivity by up to 10%.
Flex your imaging muscles
On the imaging front, we’ve already
released the FlexRay programmable
illuminator (see Images Fall 2009). FlexRay
gives you the freedom to create any pupil
shape you can imagine in a matter of
seconds. Besides improving R&D cycle
time and machine-to-machine matching,
it can reduce k1, and hence feature size,
by enabling freeform illumination and
source-mask optimization. The first
FlexRay modules have been delivered
to customers where they are delivering
extremely stable and reliable performance.
Following on from the success of FlexRay,
we are planning another novel imaging
enhancement called FlexWave. This lets
you take the next step in both imaging and
overlay by controlling the wavefront inside
the projection optics with a high degree of
freedom. That’s good for two reasons.
Improve your
on-product overlay
towards 6 nm
13
ASML Images, Summer Edition 2010
First, it extends the potential for lens
correction far beyond what is possible
today, bringing your system much
closer to the theoretical perfect lens.
Such flexible aberration control lets you
correct for residual distortion differences
between layers exposed using different
illumination modes. That can help improve
your on-product overlay towards 6 nm. It
also allows you to maintain your process
window in high-volume manufacturing by
minimizing lens heating effects.
Second, you can use FlexWave for
Advanced Imaging Enhancement to
improve imaging for individual features in
your design. FlexWave lets you introduce
any aberration profile you like into your
wavefront. Consequently, you can use
local phase changes to create and control
focus offsets per feature and pitch to
compensate for mask 3D effects and
significantly improve your CD uniformity.
On-product improvement
To improve on-product overlay even
further, we will also be releasing a new
TOP upgrade. TOP Reticle Control targets
layers, such as contact layers, that use
high doses and very low transmission
reticles. Typically, these conditions can
cause reticle heating and expansion,
causing an overlay penalty that increases
with each wafer exposed.
TOP Reticle Control features a new
sensor that measures the temperature
profile in the reticle throughout the first
lot for each new reticle. The system then
predicts the reticle expansion per shot,
and calculates corrections to the lens and
stage parameters to compensate for it.
The corrections are then applied as part
of your standard exposure recipe for all
subsequent lots using that reticle.
Improving both your customized-machine
overlay (CMO) and your process-dependent
overlay contributions, TOP Reticle Control
can reduce your overall on-product overlay
by up to 2 nm.
Ongoing value
The upgrades mentioned above are the
first products on our system enhancement
roadmap. Further enhancements are also
being planned to ensure your TWINSCAN
NXT:1950i continues to deliver outstanding
production flexibility and maximum value
of ownership across multiple production
nodes and for many years to come.
Full-field throughput
up to 230 wph
14
TWINSCAN H systems drive higher value of ownershipBy Kars Troost, Frank Bornebroek, Christophe Fouquet, Product Marketing Managers
was so high that we started shipping
the 0.8-NA XT:860H KrF scanner three
quarters ahead of our original schedule.
Better by design
Our H systems feature numerous
technological benefits over their
predecessors. These include lighter
wafer stages with more powerful motors,
delivering higher stage accelerations and
scan speeds up to 800 mm/s. The reticle
stages have also been redesigned for
higher acceleration as well, to improve
dynamic behaviour and reduce vibration,
enabling tighter overlay.
Further overlay gains come from improved
interferometer conditioning through tighter
flow and temperature control, enhanced
thermal control to minimize wafer grid
deformation, and acoustic measures to
prevent reticle stage vibrations being
transferred to the projection lens.
With multiple units now in the field, the H
specification systems are demonstrating
excellent reliability to match their
outstanding performance and productivity.
For example, one customer who has
Back in Q2 2009, we started shipping the
TWINSCAN XT:1000H – the first of our H
specification systems. This high-resolution
KrF system has a numerical aperture of
0.93, extending KrF resolution down to
80 nm and allowing manufacturers to
keep more layers in the lower-cost KrF
processes. Moreover, the system took
productivity to new levels, with an ATP
throughput of 165 wafers per hour (wph)
enabling faster returns on investment.
The launch of the TWINSCAN H
specification was a key part of our
ongoing commitment to improve the
economics of manufacturing using our
dry TWINSCAN systems. Since then, the
higher productivity of the H specification
has been rolled out across our dry and
immersion portfolios, and is proving very
popular in the market. In fact, demand
Abstract | ASML’s TWINSCAN H
specification systems set a new standard
for productivity. Thanks to our platform
approach to system development, the
H specification has now been rolled
out across our TWINSCAN range. And
in keeping with our spirit of continuous
improvement, further developments are
planned that will improve overlay and
productivity even further to maximize your
value of ownership.
165 wafers per hour (wph)
enabling faster returns
on investment
15
ASML Images, Summer Edition 2010
taken delivery of a number H specification
systems (including the XT:1000H, XT:860H
and XT:1450H) has reported average
system availabilities above 98%.
Thanks to the modular TWINSCAN
platform architecture, technological
enhancements from our dry systems can
be fed into our immersion systems and
vice versa. Consequently, we have already
shipped more than 20 XT:1950Hi scanners
– an ArF immersion system capable of
processing 148 wph under ATP conditions.
Continuous improvement
Continuous improvement has always been
fundamental to our system development
philosophy, and it underpins our drive to
improve value of ownership. Accordingly,
our H systems are designed to be
easily extendible. For instance, we are
currently developing a new TOP package
for both dry scanners to extend the
overlay performance. Another example
of how the TWINSCAN platform enables
cross-fertilization between lithography
technologies, this TOP package for dry
systems leverages improvements that
were originally developed for immersion.
Fig. 1: Customer data showing average availability above 98% across multiple dry TWINSCAN H specification systems over an 8 month period
100
3 reporting machines; Uptime = 98%
95
98.0
90
Supplier Uptime
2009
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-53
2010
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Upt
ime
(%)
85
Performance overview: Availability – Uptime
Supplier Uptime Target
Naturally, the H specification is not the
end of our productivity improvements.
The next step forward will come with
the release later this year of our K
specification systems. Once again the
TWINSCAN platform means that owners
of H specification systems will be able
to upgrade their systems in the field.
Importantly, the transition from H to K will
be largely through software upgrades,
minimizing upgrade time and maximizing
the value of your investment in an H
specification system. The upgrade will
boost throughputs for dry scanners by
around 20%, making 220 wph possible in
full-field mode.
www.asml.com
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