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Technology Stocks : ASML Holding NV -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: etchmeister who wrote (1215)	9/20/2006 9:43:30 AM
From: niek	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 42854

ASML inserts double-patterning on roadmap EE Times 09/19/2006 MONTEREY, Calif. — ASML Holding NV has quietly inserted 193-nm immersion with double-patterning techniques on its roadmap, claiming that the technology is the "only" lithographic solution for the 2008 and 2009 timeframe. And at the Annual Bacus Symposium here, ASML (Veldhoven, the Netherlands) is also expected to present several papers on double-pattering techniques, which could extend 193-nm immersion lithography beyond the 45-nm node. Water has a refractive index of 1.44, limiting 193-nm immersion to the 45-nm "half-pitch" node, according to experts. The move to endorse double-patterning represents a slight change in strategy for the Dutch-based equipment vendor. In previous presentations, ASML believed that 193-nm immersion would enable volume production for logic devices down to 32-nm and memory devices at 40-nm and below. Beyond that, the company has stated that the industry will likely adopt extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography at the 32-nm node and beyond. ASML has also said that some of the more advanced companies may employ double-patterning techniques to further extend optical lithography until the EUV infrastructure is in place. Given that EUV still faces a number of technical challenges, ASML appears to have strengthened its position on 193-nm immersion with double-patterning techniques. In a presentation at Bacus, ASML presented a slide with the technology on its future roadmap. This technology is expected to be "the only solution in 2008 and 2009," said Martin van den Brink, ASML's executive vice president of marketing and technology, during a presentation at Bacus. In other words, 193-nm immersion with double-pattering techniques could become the lithography technology of choice between current 193-nm immersion and the possible insertion of EUV. The ASML executive warned that 193-nm immersion with double-patterning will be an expensive solution. In terms of cost, one expert believes a "single-pass" 193-nm immersion scanner would cost around $30 million each. A "double-pass" 193-nm immersion tool is expected to cost $40 million. In comparison, EUV is projected to cost $40-to-$50 million per machine if or when the technology is shipped. In a brief interview after the presentation, van den Brink declined to comment on future product introductions that would take advantage of double-pattering techniques. In one paper at Bacus, ASML's lithography software unit, ASML Mask Tools Inc., is expected to present a paper, entitled: "32-nm node flash contact hole printing using double patterning, CPL mask, and hyper-NA immersion with optimized illumination."