AMSL reports second customer extreme UV test
Dutch lithography firm ASML has announced that a second customer has successfully performed an EUV-endurance test during which wafer processing capability was proven of around 600 wafers within 24 hours on an NXE:3300B EUV system.
ASML's TWINSCAN NXE platform is the industry's first production platform for extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL). The NXE:3300B offers 22 nm resolution with conventional illumination and 18 nm with off-axis illumination as well as improved overlay and higher productivity.
The endurance test was designed to simulate a production run and, similar to an earlier test in July at another customer, exceeded the 500 wafers per day requirement that ASML customers have set for the end of the year.
ASML president and CEO Peter Wennink told a webcast investor conference in New York today that ASML is encouraged by the result of this second test. However, EUV-performance needs to be repeated on multiple days and multiple systems, which is the goal of the availability improvement programs that will be executed throughout the remainder of the year.
