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To: niek who wrote (1258)	10/17/2006 2:34:57 PM
From: niek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 43397

Carl Zeiss opens immersion litho facility EE Times 10/17/2006 MUNICH, Germany — Carl Zeiss SMT has opened a new design and production facility for lithography systems. The center is dedicated mainly to the latest generation of its immersion lithography systems for semiconductor geometries down to 45nm. The center opened Monday (Oct. 16) is the third expansion stage to the company's lithography facilities in Oberkochen, Germany. Since groundbreaking for the first expansion stage in December 2000, the company has invested more than 450 million euros ($563 million) in the entire facility 300 million euroes for equipment and machinery and 150 million euros for the buildings, the company said. At the part of the facilities that was opened now, Carl Zeiss SMT will develop and manufacture its next-generation Starlith 1900i lithography optics system the company introduced today. According to the company, the system, which besides lenses also includes optical mirrors, is designed for 130nm optical wavelength and sports a numerical aperture of 1.35. The system will form the heart of a new generation of steppers from Carl Zeiss SMT's main customer ASML, a spokesperson explained. For the production process including surface coating and final adjustments, the company operates a cleanroom with an area of several thousand square meters. The company presently sells "several hundreds" optical lithography systems per year, the spokesperson said. After the next-generation lithography systems, represented by optical systems like the one Carl Zeiss' Starlith presented today, the semiconductor is expected to shift to EUV (Extreme Ultra Violet) technology. The development of such systems is under way also at Carl Zeiss SMT; first alpha tools have been shipped recently to customers in the U.S. and Belgium. However, the roadmap for a broad EUV roll-out is discussed controversially, and at Carl Zeiss, nobody wanted to provide a precise time frame. "We think this won't happen before the next decade", a spokesperson commented vaguely.