The 2nd Annual Desk-Clearing Lithography News Roundup

Here it is, September again. Which can only mean one thing: Time to clean off the desk! There's been a lot happening in the lithography world, including joint development, equipment sales and strategic new hires. Check out the latest in the second annual desk-clearing space:

• International SEMATECH (ISMT, Austin, Texas) and Exitech Ltd. (Oxford, England) announced an agreement to develop a 13.5 nm aerial image monitor tool for pattern and defect inspection of EUV reticles. The alpha tool built by Exitech will be used for EUV mask blank and defection inspection at the ISMT North NanoFab 1 EUV mask blank facility in Albany, N.Y. The tool is targeted to resolve minimum feature sizes on EUV reflection reticles of ≤120 nm. It is scheduled for delivery in Q3 2005.
• Axcelis Technologies Inc. (Beverly, Mass.) announced its acquisition of Matrix Integrated Systems Inc. (Richmond, Calif.) for $14M in cash. The acquisition of the photoresist dry strip equipment supplier expands Axcelis' portfolio, and supports the company's long-term diversification strategy.
• Molecular Imprints Inc. (MII, Austin, Texas) announced that Motorola Labs will take delivery on the first Step and Flash Imprint Lithography (S-FIL) system, the Imprio 100. Motorola will use the tool to perform advanced device research in the areas of novel devices, compound semiconductors, molecular electronics, and photonic and optical devices. The Imprio 100 is the initial product offering from MII, using an imprint technology capable of creating sub-100 nm images.
• Clariant AZ Electronic Materials (Somerville, N.J.) has installed a Nikon S306C full-field 193 nm scanner with an NA of 0.78, reportedly the first high-NA 193 nm scanner with 300 mm capability at a photoresist manufacturer. AZ will use the scanner for new product development and customer support. It is linked to a TEL ACT 12 coat-and-develop track, the acquisition of which AZ announced in May.
• Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TEL, Tokyo) has agreed with Nikon Corp. (Tokyo) to jointly develop liquid immersion exposure technology as it relates to exposure systems. Since 2001, the two companies have been sharing their evaluation systems for joint activities to improve process performance. Under the latest agreement, TEL will provide expertise in resist coater/developer and advanced element technologies, and Nikon will provide expertise in exposure technologies to further the development of ArF immersion lithography. The companies will verify these element technologies by the end of this year, and aim to enter mass production as soon as possible thereafter. They will also draw on the cooperation of various resist suppliers.
• FEI Co. (Hillsboro, Ore.) has shipped its first Accura XT focused ion beam (FIB) mask repair tool and an SNP XT Stylus NanoProfilometer to a leading semiconductor mask consortium in Europe. The two systems work in tandem to deliver characterization and repair of advanced photomasks. The Accura XT was developed in cooperation with ISMT to meet demands for next-generation lithography.
• Sputtered Films Inc. (Santa Barbara, Calif.), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tegal Corp. (Petaluma, Calif.) has sold an EndeavorEUV PVD cluster tool to the world's leading semiconductor manufacturer for use in producing photomasks used for EUV lithography. The configuration ordered is valued at ~$3M.
• DuPont Photomasks Inc. (DPI, Round Rock, Texas) announced that Peter S. Kirlin resigned as chairman and CEO. The board of directors has elected Marshall C. Turner to fill the positions. Turner is a veteran of venture capital and operating roles in the technology industry, and has served on DPI's board since 1996.
• NanoInk Inc. (Chicago) will use its Dip Pen Nanolithography (DPN) technique to create single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in a joint-development agreement with Carbon Nanotechnologies Inc. (Houston). A challenge in creating the cylindrical polymers of pure carbon — which are stronger than steel and conduct heat and electricity extremely well — is assembling them into nanometer-scale components of just 1-2 nm. NanoInk's DPN process can be used to build diverse nanoscale structures and devices with virtually any material, including SWNTs.
• Extraction Systems (Franklin, Mass.) has made several key appointments to expand its instrumentation business, and to help customers measure and control lithography molecular contamination. Art Schnitzer, a 25-year veteran of KLA-Tencor Corp. (San Jose), has been named a director of the board. Robert Reilly has been promoted to metrology group manager, reporting to Devon Kinkead, Extraction's president. Reilly will be responsible for managing the company's instrumentation business, including the development of its organics monitoring technology. Jürgen Lobert joined the company as engineering scientist for this group, a new position.
• ASML (Veldhoven, Netherlands) announced the sale of an advanced lithography system to UMCi (Singapore), a 300 mm foundry joint venture originally between UMC, Infineon Technologies and Singapore's Economic Development Board Investments. UMCi will use the AT:850B system to image 130 nm circuits on 300 mm silicon wafers.
• Ultratech Inc. (San Jose) has promoted John Denzel to executive vice president of operations, responsible for all engineering, manufacturing, customer service and customer support activities. He has held various positions for Ultratech since joining the company in 1996. He has a B.S.E.E. from San Jose State, and an M.B.A. from Santa Clara University.
• DNS Electronics LLC (DNSE, Sunnyvale, Calif.), a wholly owned subsidiary of Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co. Ltd. (Kyoto, Japan), has hired James T. Beard as vice president of sales for the U.S. market. Beard most recently held positions of business and account management at Applied Materials, and previously worked for Prism Technologies, Intel and Prometrix. He has M.S. and B.S. degrees in chemical engineering, and a B.S. in chemistry.
• Canon Sales Co. Inc. (Tokyo), the independent marketing arm of Canon Inc. (Tokyo), and RAVE LLC (Delray Beach, Fla.) announced an agreement under which Canon Sales will distribute RAVE’s photomask repair products in Japan.

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