EUVL Mask Infrastructure Partnership
After a long run, optical lithography is unlikely to be able to pattern chips beyond the 22 nm technology generation and extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL)—with a wavelength of only 13.5 nm—is now widely considered the best replacement for optical lithography.
Since 2003, however, the semiconductor industry has ranked defect-free EUV masks among its top three technical issues. EUV masks used for sub-22 nm patterning must be free of printing defects and current metrology tools are generally ineffective at finding defects below 32 nm.
Critical industry need
Producing the tools required to address this gap in infrastructure is far too costly for any single company or industry sector to develop independently, and will require collaborative innovations that address both technology and business needs across multiple industry segments.
Identifying committed suppliers to build small market EUV mask blank inspection hardware, followed by at-wavelength imaging and patterned inspection hardware, poses a significant challenge. With a total development cost estimated to be over $200 million, the only viable solution is to foster industry-wide financial support.
The right partners delivering the right solution
SEMATECH's ability to bring together the right partners from across the entire industry is crucial to sustaining the EUV technology roadmap advances.
The EUV Mask Infrastructure (EMI) Partnership connects multiple segments of the EUV supply chain with chip-makers, research consortia and regional governments in an effort to collectively fund the development of the critical metrology tools needed for detecting defects in advanced EUVL masks.
The first
such tool development effort by the EMI partnership—the actinic aerial image metrology (AIMS™) EUV
system—will be an integral tool for collectively
supporting the needs of the semiconductor industry.
Going forward, SEMATECH will continue to facilitate consensus-building among the EMI partners by providing crucial data and a discussion forum for addressing additional infrastructure gaps such as a high-brightness EUV metrology light source to support EUV mask metrology requirements for high-production AIMS, as well as actinic blank inspection and actinic patterned mask inspection, as warranted.
Become an EMI Partner
EMI partners benefit from the program through their direct involvement in shaping the development of this critical infrastructure, and the opportunity to capitalize on early access to this breakthrough technology.
The EMI Partnership is open to mask and chip-makers, mask blank suppliers, consortia, and regional governments who want to ensure the availability of cost-effective, manufacturable EUV solutions.
To find out more about how your company or organization can participate in the EMI Partnership, please contact mark.sheedy@sematech.org.
