ASML and TSMC report milestone of 1000 euv-exposed wafers in 24 hours

During a test run, ASML and TSMC managed to expose 1022 wafers within 24 hours at 90W with an NXE:3300B machine. That number would be a milestone on the road to deploying euv to production, as TSMC intends to do.

According to ASML and TSMC, the output from the round of testing demonstrates the potential of ASML’s EUV systems. The goal is to achieve a sustained output of 1000 wafers per day before the end of this year, the actual production of ASML’s latest generation chip machines. At TSMC there are two NXE:3300B systems, which are supplemented by two newer NXE:3350B systems.

The euuv lithography technique uses extreme ultraviolet light, which due to its shorter wavelength can create smaller structures than current immersion lithography. Euv has been mentioned for years as a promised method to enable smaller nodes, but ASML had great difficulty getting the technology in order. Obtaining sufficient light output to be able to expose sufficient wafers per day is a major challenge.

Eighteen months ago, ASML already reported a light output of 80W for the NXE:3300 with associated wafer production of more than 40 wafers per hour. It is unclear to what extent the 90W yield achieved with almost 43 wafers per hour can actually be called a milestone. However, both companies seem to want to make it clear that the process is getting closer to production maturity.

Although TSMC has bet on euv, Intel seems to want to use immersion lithography for as long as possible. The company even believes it can implement the 7nm process cost-effectively without switching to euv, said Mark Bohr, a senior fellow at Intel, earlier this week at the kick-off of the IEEE international Solid-State Circuits Conference in San Francisco. He did not say how the company intends to do this, but he did give a hint that silicon finfets will be phased out and switched to a new material. The switch to 7nm is only expected in 2018, next year 10nm production with silicon finfets should start.