LONDON -- A couple of set-backs for developers of sub 20-nmmanufacturing processes in recent months have accentuated the need for EUVlithography to come good and are likely to drive demand for the technology in2014, according to Eric Meurice, CEO of lithography equipment maker ASMLHolding NV (Veldhoven, The Netherlands).
ASML has been developing extreme ultra violet (EUV)lithography for many years as an eventual replacement for its own highlysuccessful optical lithography machines, the technology currently used withmultiple patternings to achieve leading-edge chip manufacturing at 28-nm and22-nm. However, ASML's EUV systems are still below the nominal throughputspecification of about 100 wafers per hour that is generally thought to benecessary to allow volume manufacturing of chips. While the use of opticallithography is just about possible at 14-nm design rules the need for tripleand quadruple exposures significantly increases the cost and reduces the throughputof optical lithography at such extreme geometries.
While ASML expects to ship 11 NXE:3300B EUV litho machinesin 2012 and 2013 for process development and pilot production there are twocontenders to drive the ramp of EUV production at the end of 2013 and during2014, according to Meurice.
Speaking to analysts on a conference call to discuss thecompany's financial results in the first quarter of 2012, Meurice said that theDRAM 1x or 1y generation, a process node just below 20-nm, was looking very complexusing multipatterned optical lithography and DRAM makers seemed prepared towait for EUV lithography to be ready for production of that node.
The other race competitor is 14-nm logic processtechnologies, particularly when under development at foundries, Meurice said."The 14-nm logic node has in particular shown two major push-backs by endcustomers attempting to use multipatterning. They have seen two problems. Oneis a cost issue which is too high to justify the shrink and the second is theyhave seen a shrink factor limitation to 14-nm, you do not really reduce the diesize as much as with EUV," he said on the conference call.
Meurice added: "The race is on to know who is going tobe the first to get into [EUV] production. That will create demand in 2014,which we believe will be not too much and not too small for a company likeus." Meurice said that NAND flash memory makers were not showing greatinterest in EUV lithography at present because they need high throughput.
When asked if the multipatterning issues at 14-nm applied toboth integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) and foundries Meurice said:"At 14-nm foundries have a challenge that the IDMs would not have. Thechallenge is that they have to deliver design rules which are less restrictiveand they have to deliver a shrink that is very aggressive." As such thedecision to go to EUV for 14-nm concerns the foundry environment more than themicroprocessor environment, Meurice said.
However, timings are becoming extremely tight for some ofthose decisions. On the same call Meurice said ASML expects to raise the sourcepower to 100-W, and therefore the throughput for its EUV lithography machinesto 60 wafers per hour, by the end of the summer. But Meurice also saidcustomers' EUV insertion decisions have to be frozen in the summer.
This story was originally posted by EETimes.
