LETI-MAPPER IMAGINE program: breakthrough achievements on MAPPER’s multibeam tool

GRENOBLE, FRANCE & DELFT, THE NETHERLANDS: CEA-Leti, the French Research and Technology Institute, reported significant progress on the capabilities of the massively parallel direct write technology developed by Delft, The Netherlands based MAPPER Lithography.

The major achievement has been obtained in resolution: 22nm dense lines and spaces and 22 nm dense contact holes in positive chemically amplified resist have been successfully resolved.

This demonstrated resolution also meets the industry requirement for the next generation 14 nm and 10 nm Logic technology nodes. The reported progress is the outcome of the 5th Operational Review of the IMAGINE program hosted by CEA-Leti January 24th-26th.

Furthermore CEA-Leti and Mapper announce the three year continuation of the IMAGINE programme through the future installation at CEA-Leti of one of MAPPER’s first pre-production Matrix systems, offering global players to assess maskless lithography technology in a real manufacturing environment.The industry/research multi-partner program IMAGINE is an initially three-year project led by CEA-Leti, and includes leading semiconductor manufacturers TSMC and STMicroelectronics.

More than 50 representatives from 13 different companies participating in the IMAGINE project, attended the Operation Review event. In this event CEA-Leti reported latest achievements obtained on MAPPER’s pre-alpha platform installed in its cleanroom since mid-2009, including a stitching demonstration.

“This result represents a state-of-the-art demonstration obtained thanks to the collaboration between partners. It demonstrates the capability of this technology that represents a real alternative for advanced semiconductor manufacturing” comments Laurent Pain, coordinator of the IMAGINE program and manager of the CEA-Leti lithography laboratory.

Bert Jan Kampherbeek, MAPPER’s CEO says:”This breakthrough marks another important step towards the introduction of our innovative tool for semiconductor manufacturing. In 2012 MAPPER will complete its Matrix pre-production platform with initially a 1 wafer per hour throughput capability and scalable to 10 wafers per hour. Given the great results we have obtained at CEA-Leti thus far, we are proud to announce that one of the first Matrix systems will be installed at CEA-Leti to enable the continuation of the IMAGINE program.”

Laurent Malier, CEA-Leti CEO says: “The outcomes of IMAGINE reflect the involvement of CEA-Leti to push and promote this very promising lithography solution. We are already preparing the future together with MAPPER with the arrival of the first pre-production tool in our premise. By continuing the IMAGINE program for another three years, we will continue to answer to the increasing interest showed by industry.”

The IMAGINE project is an initially three-year project led by CEA-Leti, evaluating a maskless lithography infrastructure and the use of MAPPER Lithography tools for high throughput. The multiple e-beam-lithography program covers a global approach to the technology, including tool assessment, patterning and process integration, data handling, prototyping and cost analysis.

The MAPPER platform is the core technology on which the IMAGINE program is built. This program provides the world’s major chip manufacturers with the opportunity to assess maskless lithography technology in a real manufacturing environment. In addition, it will develop and qualify the complete infrastructure, from data preparation to process integration, in preparation for its industrial introduction.

Participants in the IMAGINE project include leading semiconductor manufacturers TSMC and STMicroelectronics and a number of technical solutions suppliers like Nissan Chemical, TOK, Dow, JSR Micro, Synopsys, Mentor Graphics, Sokudo, Tel and Aselta.