Intel is not the only company actively acquiring lithography systems with a high numerical aperture (High-NA EUV) from ASML. One of the first scanners of this class is located in a joint Imec laboratory in the Netherlands, and the latter recently succeeded in producing test chips with record-breaking small feature sizes in a single pass, proving the effectiveness of High-NA EUV equipment.
Image source: Imec
Using the Twinscan EXE:5000 lithographic system and the tooling with new materials prepared for it by partners, Imec manufactured several test semiconductor structures with record-breaking small dimensions. In particular, a sample of a logic component with metallized layers demonstrated element sizes of no more than 9.5 nm with a pitch of 19 nm between them, and the distance along the vertices did not exceed 30 nm. Imec specialists managed to create a chip sample with through holes located at a distance of 30 nm from each other in one pass. The array of holes turned out to be regular, the holes themselves had a uniform shape and size. In the framework of experiments on creating long two-dimensional elements, it was possible to maintain a distance between them of no more than 22 nm.
Structures that replicate memory cells have also been created. This is especially important given the interest in High-NA EUV class equipment from major memory manufacturers such as Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron. While Intel will receive a second lithographic scanner with a high numerical aperture (0.55) by the end of this year, TSMC expects to receive only the first one, and it expects to start using such equipment in mass production no earlier than 2028, when it masters the A14 process technology.
Imec emphasizes that the success of the experiments with this type of ASML equipment opens the way for the company’s customers to start designing products for which it will be used. Accordingly, suppliers of equipment and consumables will also take this experience into account when expanding their product range. The transition to a new class of lithographic equipment will reduce the number of passes during the exposure of photomasks, increasing the productivity of chip production lines. The only problem so far is the high cost of such scanners, since one costs about 350 million euros.
If you notice an error, select it with your mouse and press CTRL+ENTER.
