Canon plans EUV 'beta' lithography tool by 2005

Canon plans EUV 'beta' lithography tool by 2005
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Believing that it is keeping up with competitors, Canon Inc. plans to deliver its next-generation lithography (NGL) tools, based on extreme ultraviolet (EUV) technology, by 2005.

"Our first EUV tool is slated for 2005," said Phillip Ware, director and general manager of marketing for the Semiconductor Equipment Division at the Canon U.S.A. Inc. subsidiary.

During a presentation at the annual SPIE Microlithography Conference here, Ware said Canon would deliver a "beta" EUV tool by 2005, with a production system due out around the 2007 time frame. The total R&D budget for Canon's EUV program is about $250 million.

The Japanese lithography supplier believes it will bring its exposure tool to market at about the same time of its competitors. "We are not behind anybody," insisted Ware, who is based in Irving, Tex.

Earlier this week members of the U.S.-based Extreme Ultraviolet LLC consortium announced development and successful demonstration of the world's first exposure tool based on EUV technology. An Intel Corp. executive said the consortium is now accelerating development of EUV to produce 0.07-micron (70-nanometer) feature sizes in the next six to nine months (see Jan. 27 story). A production-worthy EUV tool is not expected until 2004 or 2005, he added.

Meanwhile, Nikon Corp. last week announced plans to begin shipping an electron projection lithography (EPL) system in the fourth quarter of 2004. Nikon officials in Japan said they believe EPL is needed for 0.07-micron ICs (see Jan. 22 story). The EPL system is resulting from a joint-development project between Nikon and IBM Corp.

But not to be outdone, Canon is also aggressively pursing EUV. In addition to EUV, the company is also developing another type of technology based on maskless direct-write electron beam for use in 70-nm processing. Canon is developing its core technologies on its own.

Canon is no stranger to EUV technology. In fact, the company began developing its extreme ultraviolet technology back in the1980s, but later shelved the project in the '90s to focus on X-ray lithography. Canon developed a platform based on X-ray technology, called the XRA-1000.

When the market for X-ray lithography failed to develop, Canon decided to revive its plans to pursue EUV for the 70-nm and below technology nodes. Canon's EUV tool uses many of the same components as its XRA-1000 prototype system.

"The components of our X-ray system are applicable to our 157-nm and EUV programs," Ware said in an interview. "We have the platform and technologies in place," he added.