ASML Holding NV, Netherlands, and Carl Zeiss SMT, Germany, have agreed to strengthen their partnership in the semiconductor lithography business to facilitate the development of the next generation of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems. This technology will enable the semiconductor industry to produce much higher performance microchips at lower cost.
The next generation of EUV optics will offer a higher numerical aperture (NA), making it possible to further reduce critical dimensions in the lithography process. The current EUV systems have an optical system with NA of 0.33, whereas the new optics will have NA larger than 0.5, enabling several generations of geometric chip scaling.
ASML is a key supplier of semiconductor patterning products and services used by the world`s top producers of microchips. With its high-performance optics, Carl Zeiss SMT supplies an essential subsystem of ASML’s semiconductor lithography scanners and is ASML`s most important strategic partner. ASML and Carl Zeiss SMT have been in close partnership for more than 30 years. Both firms have grown strongly over the last decades benefiting from each other`s strengths.
A new cycle of investments is required for the development of an entirely new optical system for the future generation of EUV. These investments are expected to be provided to the chip-making industry in the first few years of the next decade, and it is this expectation that has triggered the partners to take a further step in the collaboration.
http://www.zeiss.com/semiconductor-manufacturing-technology/home.html
