Nikon vows to take lead role in immersion lithography
By Mark LaPedus
Silicon Strategies
12/03/2003, 12:50 PM ET
BELMONT, Calif.--Nikon Corp. here vowed that it will take the leadership position in immersion lithography despite ASM Holding NV's aggressive thrust in the arena.
As reported earlier this week, Nikon said it will begin selling production immersion lithography tools by 2006. The Japanese equipment giant is set to have an alpha machine ready by the second half of 2004, allowing customers to engage in evaluations of immersion lithography at the Nikon facilities in Tokyo (see December 1 story).
Today, meanwhile, ASML officially rolled out its initial immersion tool and announced that foundry giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. ordered the first system here (see December 3 story).
In immersion lithography, the space between the projection lens and the wafer is filled with a liquid. Immersion technology could offer better resolution enhancement and higher numerical apertures (NA) over conventional projection lithography. The technology could potentially extend 193-nm tools down to 45-nm and possibly below--thereby pushing out 157-nm and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) tools, according to analysts. Some believe that 157-nm scanners with immersion could process devices at 32-nm and below, according to analysts.
Production immersion tools are being currently targeted to process devices at linewidth geometries of below 65-nm, said Geoff Wild, chief executive of Nikon's U.S. subsidiary, Nikon Precision Inc., based in Belmont.
At present, the immersion lithography race among vendors is still too close to call. ASML and Nikon, along with Canon Inc., are still separately in the R&D stages and have yet to develop a production-worthy immersion tool, according to analysts.
However, saying it will eventually take the leadership position in the market, Nikon claims it is neck-and-neck--or slightly ahead--in immersion over lithography-tool rival ASML right now. "We're ahead or level," Wild said. "We intend to be first in the market," he said in an interview with Silicon Strategies.
Based on its announced schedule, Nikon plans to develop an "engineering evaluation" model in the second half of 2004, with a "pre-production" system due in 2005 and a production tool in 2006.
Wild believes Nikon's stated timetable is a bit conservative. "I would not be surprised if we can do better than that," he said. "Our position is that there are no show stoppers in immersion."
The Nikon executive also believes that the technology faces some challenges, especially on the marketing side of the equation. For years, chip makers have used conventional optical lithography in production fabs and the shift towards wet or immersion is a radical jump.
One of the issues is that "a lot of companies are skeptical about immersion," he said. Several chip makers, including Intel, STMicroelectronics, have expressed doubts about immersion. Still others, such as TSMC, are moving full speed ahead with immersion tools.
Initially, Nikon will develop an engineering immersion tool, based on its NSR-S307E line of 193-nm scanners. The projection lens for this machine will have a NA of 0.85.
Then, in 2005, Nikon will ship a "pre-production" immersion model, with a projection lens NA of 0.92. The company will begin selling production systems with production NA of 1.0 in 2006. |
