EUV Developments In Germany And US

The lamp generates a plasma in a patented gas discharge geometry (hollow
cathode triggered pinch plasma). EUV radiation is emitted in the spectral
range of 9-20nm in pulses of about 30ns. The typical source size is
approximately 500micron in diameter and a few mm in length. This is
accomplished by heating the working gas (xenon, air, oxygen, fluorine, . .
.) with a current of about 10,000A to temperatures of about 20-30eV
(200,000-300,000K). The EUV-source has an uptime of 100,000,000 pulses -
more than 500hours at 50Hz.
Material and process related issues to be investigated with such a
laboratory exposure tool include resist sensitivity and contrast, surface
and line-edge roughness and resist behaviour at high doses such as unwanted
outgassing or crosslinking.
AIXUVs open-frame exposer allows exposing of 20 fields of 5mm diameter with
individual doses of EUV radiation. Spectral filtering by means of window
transmission and multilayer reflection guarantees that only "in-band"
EUV-radiation contributes to exposure. Homogeneity of exposures is better
than 5% RMS. Typical exposure rates are around 0.1mJ/cm2/minute with the
lowest power EUV-lamps.

The University at Albany (UAlbany) and International SEMATECH (ISMT) have
completed negotiations on a joint five-year programme on next generation
lithography. ISMT will conduct a program in EUV (extreme ultraviolet)
lithography infrastructure, focused on mask blanks, resist, and EUV
extensions at UAlbanys 300mm wafer facility. ISMT is seeking to have the
needed EUV infrastructure in place and ready for introduction in 2007.
Initially, ISMT will send a small project team of ten people to Albany to
oversee the start-up. Ultimately, the programme is projected to include 30
ISMT employees and assignees and more than 500 staff from UAlbany, other
universities, national laboratories, industry and suppliers of material and
equipment.