News Article
EUV Source Ships To UK Toolmaker
German company XTREME technologies has shipped its first prototype of an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light source to UK microstepper manufacturer Exitech. The source will be used under a strategic research partnership for next-generation lithography. XTREME is a nanotechnology 50-50 joint venture between Lambda Physik and Jenoptik.
The EUV source uses a pulsed electrical high power discharge and the pinch effect to generate a 200,000C hot plasma to emit the light.
German company XTREME technologies has shipped its first prototype of an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light source to UK microstepper manufacturer Exitech. The source will be used under a strategic research partnership for next-generation lithography. XTREME is a nanotechnology 50-50 joint venture between Lambda Physik and Jenoptik.
The EUV source uses a pulsed electrical high power discharge and the pinch effect to generate a 200,000C hot plasma to emit the light.
The EUV source uses a pulsed electrical high power discharge and the pinch effect to generate a 200,000C hot plasma to emit the light.
The completion of the EUV prototypes made it possible to significantly undercut the schedule drawn up at the time the company was founded in 2001. Originally, the first sales were not expected until 2006.
Dr Malcolm Gower, chairman of Exitech, says: "The EUV microstepper will be used in the initial test phase of the next generation of optical lithography. This test phase usually starts as early as three to five years before the actual use in chip production."