SEMATECH, a global consortium of chipmakers, announced today that it has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co., Ltd. (TOK), a leading manufacturer of photoresists, establishing the groundwork for a joint development agreement on collaborative efforts to optimize and develop new advanced imaging materials for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography.
As a Resist member of SEMATECH’s lithography program, TOK will collaborate with experts at SEMATECH’s EUV Resist and Materials Development Center (RMDC) at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the University at Albany to develop and demonstrate advanced EUV photoresist for use at the 22 nm node and beyond.
“This LOI sets out the framework for a new level of collaboration between SEMATECH and TOK on next generation EUVL technologies,” said John Warlaumont, vice president of advanced technologies, SEMATECH. “We believe that the ability and experience of TOK combined with SEMATECH’s expertise in EUV photoresist will accelerate our progress in tackling key challenges – such as resolution, line-width roughness, and pattern collapse – in the critical area of advanced imaging.”
“As the world-class research and development capabilities at the UAlbany NanoCollege enable critical advances in EUV technology, the addition of TOK to the SEMATECH-CNSE partnership will serve to enhance and expand those efforts,” said Richard Brilla, vice president for strategy, alliances and consortia at CNSE. “We are delighted to welcome TOK to CNSE’s Albany NanoTech, where it joins the growing number of worldwide corporate partners who recognize New York’s global leadership in nanoscale education, innovation and economic development.”
Over the past year, significant advances in EUV resists have been enabled by SEMATECH's EUV RMDC through its two micro-exposure tools (METs) located at the CNSE and at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Through SEMATECH's EUV resist development program, engineers and resist suppliers have made significant progress in improving resist resolution; the most recent results have demonstrated 22 nm half-pitch resolution.
The goal of SEMATECH’s RMDC is to provide world-class exposure capability and serve as the leading center for supplier resist and materials research to enable 22 nm patterning technologies and beyond. As part of its ongoing effort to create flexible participation options for materials and equipment manufacturers, SEMATECH has opened its resist program to participation from companies such as TOK, to enable broader and deeper partnerships for advanced materials development.