EUV Mask Blank Exchange Program
SEMATECH's EUV Mask Blank Exchange Program is a collaborative effort between SEMATECH, commercial mask blank suppliers, and Integrated Circuit (IC) manufacturing companies interested in participating in research projects designed to leverage Extreme Ultra Violet (EUV) Lithography developments in the semiconductor industry.
How does it work?
As part of the EUV Mask Blank Project, a limited number of mask
blanks are available for interested IC manufacturing companies to
acquire and use for their EUV lithography research and development
purposes. Based on the Exchange Program participation agreements,
these IC companies will then provide SEMATECH and
the individual EUV mask blank
General areas of data may include:
- Data resulting from EUV mask patterning
- Data on performance attributes of buffer and absorber materials
- Data on EUV mask patterning processing
- Data resulting from mask blank and completed patterned mask repair
- Data resulting from EUV mask exposures or wafer print testing and mask defect printability studies
- Data resulting from mask operation and lifetime testing
- Data resulting from mask cleaning
- Data resulting from use of EUV mask blanks or patterned masks
inspection tooling / metrology tooling experiments. Such evaluation
data can be from the following areas:
- Defect inspection
- EUV reflectivity
- Defect aerial image monitoring
Mask blanks will be distributed in "blocks" approximately four times per year. Interested IC companies may apply for blank masks during the open proposal period for each distribution block.
Benefits
Participants in the program benefit from early access to EUV mask blank materials and accelerated research and development efforts. In turn, the EUV Mask Blank Exchange Program also benefits the entire semiconductor industry by providing a broad base of shared knowledge to improve the infrastructure of EUV lithography.
For more information
To find out more about the EUV Mask Blank Exchange Program, including conditions of the program, application procedures, and mask blank distribution dates please contact euv.blanks@sematech.org or send a fax to 1-512-356-3618.
Some restrictions may apply. SEMATECH reserves the right to suspend or terminate this program at any time.