KLA-Tencor and SEMATECH to advance EUV lithography technology at UAlbany NanoCollege

ALBANY & MILPITAS, USA: SEMATECH, a global consortium of chipmakers, and KLA-Tencor Corp., the world's leading supplier of process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related industries, announced that KLA-Tencor has joined SEMATECH’s Lithography Defect Reduction program at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the University at Albany.

As a member of the Defect Reduction program, KLA-Tencor will collaborate with SEMATECH engineers at the industry-leading defect reduction center for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) tool and materials technology. Specific areas for collaboration include defect source identification and elimination using leading-edge metrology, printability, and characterization methods to advance mask metrology infrastructure and metrology source development, as well as overall EUV manufacturability and extendibility.

EUV lithography (EUVL) is a method using a source wavelength 15 times shorter than current lithography systems, enabling semiconductor scaling to resolutions of 10 nanometers (nm) and smaller. A lower defect density is essential for advanced lithography processes and for inserting EUVL technology into high-volume manufacturing, which is projected to be introduced for the 22nm half-pitch node in 2012–2013 at leading integrated circuit (IC) manufacturers. In order to prepare EUVL for manufacturing, a concerted effort is required that focuses on defect reduction and mask metrology infrastructure, source development, and overall manufacturability and extendibility.

“The unique combination of KLA-Tencor's state-of-the-art lithography inspection tools and measurement expertise with SEMATECH’s broad industry engagement and long track record in the research and development of EUV will enable collaboration on solutions that support the critical needs of our customers and the industry,” said Rick Wallace, KLA-Tencor's president and CEO. “We are excited to partner with SEMATECH to develop new metrology capabilities that address the fundamental defect detection and reduction processes that are critical for EUV infrastructure.”

“There are too many challenges in moving EUVL to cost-effective manufacturing to solve alone. Increased collaboration with equipment suppliers in the early stages of technological innovation is increasingly required to obtain the breakthrough results that are needed,” said Dan Armbrust, president and CEO, SEMATECH. “Our strategic partnership with KLA-Tencor will strengthen our ability to resolve these industry-wide EUVL challenges.”

“We are delighted to welcome this new partnership between KLA-Tencor and SEMATECH, which will further build the intellectual know-how and unparalleled technological capabilities at the UAlbany NanoCollege,” said Richard Brilla, vice president for strategy, alliances and consortia at CNSE. “This collaboration underscores the pivotal role that research at CNSE’s Albany NanoTech Complex is playing in advancing next-generation technologies to support the critical needs of industry.”

Through global leadership and collaboration, SEMATECH’s Lithography Program is leading the industry in providing critical information and solutions for current and emerging lithography systems. The program aims to drive consensus-based solutions and infrastructure development to ensure that capable, cost-effective lithography is available when needed to member companies and the semiconductor industry. To do this, SEMATECH is leading the development of critical EUV mask metrology infrastructure and EUV resists.