248 nm Lithography to Reach 80 nm Resolution

Carl Zeiss SMT AG announces its new lithography optical system Starlith® 1000 for KrF. The new system stands out with a numerical aperture (NA) of 0.93 which will be the highest NA for 248 nm exposure wavelength available in the market. This in turn provides a more cost effective solution for patterning of features down to 80 nm in volume chip production.

“Together with our strategic partner ASML we have investigated customer needs initiating the development of Starlith® 1000. This demonstrates our continuing efforts to offer solutions to the semiconductor industry for cost-effective and highly reliable lithography processes. With Starlith® 1000 the application range of KrF lithography is further extended”, Winfried Kaiser points out. The Vice President Product Strategy at Carl Zeiss SMT´s Lithography Optics division continues: This development has only been possible due to our long experience in innovative lens design for lithography and leading-edge manufacturing facilities we have in place at our new production site in Oberkochen, Germany.”

With Starlith® 1000 Carl Zeiss SMT now offers a complete product portfolio of leading-edge lithography optics for each of the most advanced exposure wavelenghts/technologies: @ 248 nm/KrF – the new Starlith® 1000; @ 193 nm/ArF dry – the Starlith® 1450 and @ 193 nm immersion/ArF immersion – the Starlith® 1900i.

The Starlith® 1000 system will be part of ASML´s new TWINSCAN™ XT:1000 which will begin shipping in 2008.