Innovations Abound at SEMICON West 2009

SEMICON West is a valued forum for Nikon to share the latest news about our leading-edge products and programs. In addition to our exhibit this year, we were pleased to participate in several excellent events with our partners at SEMI, KLA-Tencor, and SOKUDO. A brief overview of our show activities follows, and customers are encouraged to request the full Nikon presentation materials via npicom@nikon.com.

The theme for this year’s SOKUDO Lithography Breakfast Forum was "Double Patterning Jumps the 200 wph Hurdle" and focused on photolithography infrastructure preparations to bring double patterning (DP) to volume production and achieve industry cost of ownership (CoO) goals. Dr. Stephen Renwick, Principal Engineer at Nikon Precision, reported on DP immersion scanner performance delivering greater than 200 wafers per hour and optimal CoO to address these challenges.

Figure 1. The NSR-S620 was built on the new Streamlign platform to resolve the key challenges of double patterning.

Following the SOKUDO breakfast, customers and industry partners joined us for lunch and technical presentations by Nikon and KLA-Tencor. Attendees learned about our newest immersion scanner for 32 nm and DP applications–the NSR-S620, which was built on the Streamlign platform to resolve the key challenges of DP by delivering dramatically reduced overlay, ultra-high throughput for superior cost of ownership, and streamlined installation with optimal flexibility.

Figure 2. Nikon Technologists reported on a method of OPE automatching enabling customers to operate a Nikon scanner using the same OPC solution as a competitor's scanner by automatically providing Nikon settings to match the other scanner's through-pitch behavior.

Highlighting that it’s not enough to simply improve optics and stages, Nikon Technologists also reported on imaging innovations such as automatic Optical Proximity Error (OPE) matching and customized illumination capabilities, and noted that Nikon offers a full-spectrum solution, addressing customer needs at each step of the lithography process. In addition, Venkat Nagaswami, Director of Patterning Technology in the Process Control Solutions Group at KLA-Tencor, discussed leading-edge lithography metrology challenges and solutions. He reported that while double patterning creates CD uniformity and overlay issues, the necessary budgets can be achieved by carefully controlling parameters such as wafer shape and flatness, mask pattern placement error, high order overlay sampling, and more.

Figure 3. At SEMICON West, Nikon discussed ways to shrink the k₁ gap with advanced imaging solutions such as source mask optimization and customized illuminators.

Nikon also participated in the SEMI TechXPOT session: Lithography Challenges and Solutions, which addressed the challenges facing 22 nm lithography. This session focused on aspects of litho ecosystem readiness, infrastructure limitations, and technologies that may resolve these obstacles in a timely and cost-effective way. An invited presentation from Nikon Precision discussed ways to shrink the k₁ gap using advanced imaging solutions. These include the Nikon Scanner Signature File (NSSF) to reduce OPC cycle time and increase accuracy; source mask optimization to expand exposure latitude and increase depth of focus; as well as sophisticated dose control adjustments via Optimized Dose Control (ODC) to enhance CD uniformity.