Cymer Reports Over $16 Million in Orders for Its New ELS-5010 Laser From Several Lithography Manufacturers
July 13, 1998 09:02 AM
SAN DIEGO, July 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Cymer, Inc. CYMI , the world's leading supplier of excimer laser illumination sources essential for deep ultraviolet (DUV) photolithography, today announced that it has received orders totaling more than $16 million for its newest-generation ELS-5010 krypton fluoride (KrF) excimer laser, introduced just three months ago. According to company officials, the orders stemmed from the world's three largest lithography suppliers -- ASM Lithography (ASML), Canon, and Nikon -- who plan to use Cymer's new ELS-5010 laser in their advanced lithography systems for the manufacture of leading-edge semiconductor devices with sub-quarter micron and below design rules.
Cymer reports that the advanced performance capabilities of the ELS-5010 system, along with the company's global service, support, and high volume manufacturing capacity, were key selection criteria in the multimillion-dollar orders. Specifically, customers cited the importance of the laser's bandwidth control, energy stability, uptime, and serviceability. These lithography manufacturers will use Cymer's illumination source to enhance their ability to meet chipmakers' exacting technical criteria and rigorous performance objectives for today's most advanced IC designs.
Commenting on the rapid acceptance of the ELS-5010 in the marketplace, Pascal Didier, Cymer's senior vice president of worldwide customer operations, noted, "Our customers' enthusiastic response to this newest addition to our family of excimer lasers testifies to the success of this new product while further augmenting our leadership position in the industry. We believe our ELS-5010 system sales will gain further momentum globally, as more and more lithography suppliers and chipmakers turn to Cymer for this enabling laser technology."
The driving force behind the demand for advanced laser capabilities is industry's transition to DUV lithography, which is needed to produce smaller, faster, higher performance chips at the lowest possible cost. In addition, the delay of 300 mm is expected to fuel further growth in the DUV sector, as chipmakers transition to smaller design rules to achieve economies of scale rather than moving to larger diameter wafers. As a result, tighter resolution capabilities will become increasingly critical over the next few years.
The ELS-5010 was developed in anticipation of these needs. As the industry's first DUV excimer laser specifically designed to address next- generation stepper and scanner applications with 0.7 NA or higher lens designs, the ELS-5010 has demonstrated consistent, reliable performance in imaging tight critical dimensions down to 0.18 micron. The system's tighter resolution capabilities are achieved through narrower bandwidths. Incorporating Cymer's proprietary Line-Narrowing Package (LNP), the ELS-5010 delivers an unprecedented bandwidth resolution to <2.0pm, 95 percent energy integral.
The system also incorporates advanced hardware designs and new energy control software algorithms that stabilize energy dosage to <+/-0.6 percent. As laser energy output stabilizes, the exposure dosage becomes increasingly uniform -- within die, die-to-die and wafer-to-wafer. As a result, chipmakers can increase yield and wafer throughput, while lowering cost of ownership.
Cymer, Inc. is the world's leading supplier of excimer laser illumination sources, the essential light source for deep ultraviolet (DUV) photolithography systems. DUV lithography is a key enabling technology which has allowed the semiconductor industry to meet the exact specifications and manufacturing requirements for volume production of today's advanced semiconductor chips. Further information on Cymer may be obtained from the Company's SEC filings, the Internet at cymer.com or by contacting the Company directly.
SOURCE Cymer, Inc.
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