IBM, Nikon say e-beam lithography tool works at 50-nm node

IBM, Nikon say e-beam lithography tool works at 50-nm node
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - During the SPIE Microlithography conference here, IBM Corp. and Nikon Corp. announced demonstration of a "real" wafer exposure tool, based on electron-beam projection lithography (EPL) technology. The tool is still in the R&D stage, but the working system has demonstrated the ability to process chips with technology that would be equivalent to the 60-nm (0.06-micron) or 50-nm (0.05-micron) nodes in the future, according to the two companies.

In separate papers at the SPIE conference, IBM and Nikon provided an update on the EPL "alpha" tool, which is dubbed the "EB Stepper." IBM is developing the optics for the tool, while Nikon is handling the systems integration portion of the work.

Last year, Nikon announced the EB Stepper and plans to offer production systems by the end of 2004. At the time, the company said the tool was geared to process chips at the 70-nm node (0.07-micron) and below (see Feb. 28, 2001, story).

The alpha tool has been up and running at Nikon's facility in Kumagaya, Japan, since last year. The Japanese lithography giant and IBM claimed that they have made substantial progress on the technology.

The EPL tool "is no longer a curiosity item," declared Michael Gordon, senior engineer at IBM's Microelectronics Division in Hopewell Junction, N.Y. "It's a real system," Gordon said in a presentation at SPIE here on Thursday.

IBM developed and has refined the optics for the EB Stepper. IBM's optical system, dubbed Prevail, has demonstrated static images at the 80-nm (0.08-micron) to the 60-nm (0.06-micron) nodes. "We have demonstrated images at 50-nm," Gordon said.

In a separate paper, Nikon indicated that it is merging some the technologies from its exiting tools into the EB Stepper, according to officials from the Tokyo-based company. The company is leveraging its experience in electron-beam, metrology, and, of course, optical lithography, said Kazuki Suzuki, R&D manager of the IC Equipment Division at Nikon Corp.

Nikon is also developing another and rival next-generation lithography technology, called extreme ultravoilet (EUV).

The company, which announced those intentions last year, is working with Japanese R&D organization--called ASET--to develop EUV technology (see March 6 story). Nikon expects to roll out a EUV tool by 2007.