HamaTech APE, a SUSS MicroTec
company (FWB:SMH)(GER:SMH), today announced that it has completed the initial
stage of the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Mask Cleaning Program in partnership
with imec, a world-leading nanoelectronics research center. With the installation
of HamaTech's MaskTrack Pro, imec's 300mm clean room is the first
facility in the world equipped with a mask integrity infrastructure for EUV
point-of-exposure cleaning research.
As previously announced [imec, July 2009], HamaTech and imec have formed a
collaboration specifically dedicated to the development of EUVL mask cleaning
technology. Under the program, the companies will develop and qualify processes
of record (PORs) that remove contamination from the patterned-side of a EUV
mask without damage and that reduce the risk of recontamination during handling
and storage. POR development also will include the critical removal of contamination
from backside of a EUV reticle to eliminate overlay issues during imaging and
minimizing scanner down time.
Kurt Ronse, program director advanced lithography at imec said, “The
effective removal of contamination from the EUV reticle is recognized as key
priority to advancing EUVL. As the only research facility with a complete mask
integrity infrastructure, we are happy to provide the semiconductor industry
the platform they need to enable the rapid adoption of the first EUV lithography
tools in 2H10.”
Uncontrolled contamination on the mask entering the EUVL high energy 13.5nm
radiation vacuum environment will damage the functional surfaces of the mask
and projection optics. A pristine, defect-free mask at point-of-exposure necessitates
absolute management of the mask and the mask environment throughout its lifetime.
HamaTech and imec, in alliance with other strategic partners, will employ the
EUVL research infrastructure at imec to explore an innovative holistic approach
to in-fab mask management. The program will investigate the development of an
integrated handling, storage, inline metrology and cleaning module that interfaces
seamlessly with the reticle management system of the EUVL scanner.
“With the installation of MaskTrack Pro, we are very excited to be in
a ‘pole-position' for the commercialization of EUV,” said
Wilma Koolen-Hermkens, Chief Executive Officer of HamaTech APE. “Working
with imec, we will look beyond the normal parameters of the infrastructure to
develop a holistic approach that guarantees the most stringent mask integrity
requirements of Next Generation Lithography, including EUVL.”