This past year has witnessed a sharp increase in EUV lithography progress spanning production tools, source and infrastructure to better position the technology for HVM readiness. While the exposure source remains the largest contributor to downtime and availability, significant strides in demonstrated source power have bolstered confidence in the viability of EUVL for insertion into HVM production. The ongoing development of an EUV pellicle solution alleviates industry concern about one significant source of line-yield risk. In addition to continued expected improvements in EUV source power and availability, the ability to deliver predictable yield remains an ultimate gate to HVM insertion. Ensuring predictable yield requires significant emphasis on reticles. This includes continued pellicle development to enable the readiness and supply of a robust pellicle solution in advance of 250W source power, as well as improvements in mask blank defectivity and techniques to detect and mitigate reticle blank and pattern defects.

Date Published: 18 March 2016
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 9776, Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography VII, 977602 (18 March 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2225014

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9776:
Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography VII
Eric M. Panning, Editor(s)