Startup discloses litho tool for 45-nm ICs, gets funding from KLA-Tencor
By Mark LaPedus
URL: siliconstrategies.com
SAN JOSE -- In what could turn the photolithography industry upside down, a little-known, Dutch-based startup here today emerged to announce its ambitious strategy: it hopes to develop a high-throughput, next-generation lithography (NGL) tool geared for complex devices at the 45-nm (0.045-micron) node and below.
The company, Mapper Technology B.V., today also announced that it has received an undisclosed amount of funding from KLA-Tencor Inc.'s venture capital arm, KT Venture Group. Under the terms, KLA-Tencor of San Jose will also provide engineering resources to Mapper, based in Delft, the Netherlands.
Mapper itself is developing two types of advanced tools, based on an electron-beam microlens array technology that provides up to 1 million light sources in the same unit. The company's “wafer stepper” is built around a technology called Mapper, or Multi-Aperture Pixel-by-Pixel Enhancement of Resolution.
When Mapper rolls out its first products in the 2005 time frame, the company's tools will compete against NGL-oriented systems from the “Big Three” in the lithography business--ASML Holding N.V., Canon Inc., and Nikon Corp.
“We feel there is room for competition,” said Pieter Kruit, inventor, co-founder, and chief technology adviser at Mapper. Kruit is also a professor at Delft University in the Netherlands. “We are trying to develop an alternative [in the NGL market],” Kruit said in an interview with SBN today.
The two-year-old Dutch startup is developing both mask and maskless tools for use in the high-volume production of ASICs, DRAMs and other complex devices, Kruit said.
The tools are geared for the 45-nm node and below--at a cost that is substantially less than competitive NGL candidates, Kruit said. In fact, Mapper is shooting for a price tag of $15 million per unit for its tool, he said. In comparison, NGL tools based extreme ultraviolet (EUV) technology will cost some $35 million per unit, he said.
Mapper's first “alpha” tool is expected to be ready in 2005. A production unit is due out in 2007, he said.
The company, which has about 20 employees, has been in the stealth mode since its inception in July of 2000. Its founders are Pieter Kruit, Bert Jan Kampherbeek, and Marco Wieland. Boudewijn Baud joined the company as CEO in July 2001.
Mapper's offices are located on the premises of Delft University. Kruit invented Mapper's technology at the university. “It's a spin-off from the university,” he said.
Delft University licensed the technology to Mapper in exchange for shares in the company. Other investors include Residex Venture Capital Network, KLA-Tencor, and a pair of private investors.
It's unclear how much total funding Mapper has received thus far, but the company faces several challenges, given the enormous costs and complexities to a develop a lithography tool.
Kruit acknowledged that Mapper faces some major challenges and “risks,” but noted the company has potentially developed the technology to enable Moore's Law-at a reasonable cost.
At the same time, however, ASML, Canon, and Nikon are scrambling to develop an assortment of competitive NGL technologies, such as EUV, electron-projection lithography (EPL), and maskless direct-write e-beam. One company, JMAR Technologies Inc., is even developing X-ray litho tools for NGL.
There are several inherent problems with the various NGL technologies, Kruit said. “We don't feel that EPL will be a high-throughput system,” he said. “EUV has some issues. It's going to be an expensive system,” he added.
Mapper itself hopes to solve these issues with its own tools, which are based on present-day, e-beam technologies. But the company's technology is said to be faster than e-beam.
“Mapper technology is based on a novel combination of present day electron-beam lithography (employing an array of thousands of parallel electron beams) and optical lithography (but circumventing the optical resolution limits),” the company said.
This combination of e-beam technology and optical technology enables Mapper to develop two lithography tools. The first is mask-based lithography, which will result in a tool based on present DUV steppers--with a resolution of 45-nm and beyond.
The second is a maskless lithography tool, where digitally stored data is transferred directly to the wafer. This system is geared to reduce the cost of masks, thereby enabling price-sensitive ASICs, Kruit said.
Mapper's tools resemble an existing scanner, but “the mask is only illuminated with an array of very small light spots, created by a micro lens array,” according to the company. “The function of the mask is now to switch the light beams on and off while the mask is moved through the array of light spots,” it said.
“The second difference is that the mask pattern is not imaged on the wafer, but on a converter plate, where each light beam triggers the emission of electrons from a field emission electron source. The pattern on the wafer evolves while the wafer is moved through the array of electron beams,” the company said.
“The maskless tool concept uses the recent advantages in telecommunication, where it has become possible to transport huge amounts of data through glass fibres. In the maskless Mapper concept, these light signals are used to switch the electron sources, eliminating the costly masks,” according to the company. |
