XTREME and Philips Demonstrate Record EUV Source Power

XTREME technologies and Philips EUV announced today a record EUV source power that is sufficient to meet the industry requirements for high volume manufacturing (HVM) of integrated semiconductor chips. In a proof of principle experiment, XTREME and Philips Extreme UV demonstrate that their gas discharge plasma source can be scaled to an operation frequency of 100 kHz which translates to more than 500W of usable EUV power at the entrance of the scanner. The experiments were presented at the annual SPIE conference on Advanced Lithography in San Jose. Scalability of source power has been one of the main bottlenecks in the development of the EUV technology.

"The experiments demonstrate that our discharge based source can be scaled to deliver far more EUV power than competing solutions that are based on laser plasma", says Marc Corthout, General Manager of Philips EUV. "This is an important achievement in the cooperation between the two companies and demonstrates the joint commitment to be the first to commercialize EUV sources", says Masaki Yoshioka, General Manager of XTREME technologies.

XTREME technologies and Philips EUV announced cooperation on EUV sources in November 2007. XTREME technologies is a subsidiary of Ushio Inc. Both companies supplied all the EUV sources for the alpha-phase of the EUV-based lithography tools, and have the collective knowledge to commercialize EUV-sources for HVM. The companies use a EUV source technology that is similar to discharge lamps by burning a plasma between two electrodes. The essential breakthrough is based on a concept whereby the electrodes are extended and rotate. As a consequence, the excessive heat load during high power operation can be easily removed with at the same time very long electrode lifetime. The demonstrated 500W are way above the specification of tool makers that are currently at 180W.

Ushio, established in 1964, is a foremost manufacture of lamps for lighting, office automation, projectors as well as semiconductor/LCD manufacturing processes. It also manufactures the optical equipment in which those lamps are equipped. The Tokyo-based company operates not only in Japan, but also in North America, Asia and Europe with over 4,700 employees for both sales/marketing and productions. The well tied-up relation with the customers enables it to have a high market share in various fields. The consolidate sales in the fiscal year ended March 2007, reached to 151 billion yen (US$1.2 bil). For further information: http://www.ushio.co.jp/

The company specialises R & D for EUV as a subsidiary of Ushio Inc. Established in 2005 and located in Jena, Germany.
URL http://www.xtremetec.com/

Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) is a global leader in healthcare, lighting and consumer lifestyle, delivering people-centric, innovative products, services and solutions through the brand promise of "sense and simplicity". Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips employs approximately 123,800 employees in more than 60 countries worldwide. With sales of EUR 27 billion in 2007, the company is a market leader in medical diagnostic imaging and patient monitoring systems, energy efficient lighting solutions, as well as lifestyle solutions for personal wellbeing. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter/

The company specialises R & D for EUV as a subsidiary of Royal Philips Electronics and located in Aachen, Germany.