Cymer reduces chipmakers' operating costs with next gen iGLX

SAN DIEGO, USA: Cymer Inc., the world's leading supplier of light sources used by chipmakers to pattern advanced semiconductor chips, announced its third-generation Gas Lifetime eXtension (iGLX) control system for Argon Fluoride (ArF) immersion light sources.

An exclusive offering for chipmakers with OnPulse, the value-added feature is an improvement over previous generations of gas management systems, and is designed to double gas lifetime and automate gas optimization to eliminate manual intervention between service events.

At high-utilization sites, iGLX can provide up to an additional nine to 16 hours productivity per light source each year. As an additional benefit, iGLX also reduces the consumption of fluorine gas by up to 20 percent, while maintaining existing light source performance and enhancing environmentally-friendly manufacturing.

"Chipmakers continue to demand increased tool availability and iGLX offers higher uptime and enables increased wafer output," said Ed Brown, president and chief operating officer of Cymer. "iGLX is another example of Cymer's ongoing commitment to continuous improvement and bringing increased value to chipmaker customers through our widely-adopted OnPulse offerings."

iGLX is currently available to OnPulse customers on ArF immersion light sources as a field upgrade.