EUV lithography development in the United States

The infrastructure required to support the first full-field extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) exposure tools, is under active development at a number of U.S. universities, U.S. national laboratories, and at U.S. semiconductor consortia. These infrastructure development projects are targeting EUV-specific critical issues in the mask, mask handling, source, optics, and resist areas that must be resolved before EUVL can be used for the pilot production of semiconductor chips. In the EUV mask area, the SEMATECH Mask Blank Development Center in Albany, New York, is continuing to make rapid progress in reducing the defect density on multilayer-coated mask blanks. This talk reviews current EUVL infrastructure development efforts in the United States and highlights progress in SEMATECH-supported projects focused on reducing mask blank defects, improving reticle handing, and evaluating resist performance.