The Fine Print: High-Index Immersion Lands With a Thud
Aaron Hand, executive editor, electronic media, reports from the Sematech Litho Forum in Bolton Landing, N.Y., that Nikon has put its high-index immersion program on hold. Nikon's Soichi Owa said the company has cancelled its plans for a high-index exposure tool, dissolved its high-index project team, and pushed high-index activity back to a "basic research" level. Nikon decided that the timing on high-index lens elements (LuAG, namely) is too late, the lens material development is too uncertain, and the benefits of Generation 2 high-index immersion (which enables an NA of 1.55) are just too small (12% resolution improvement), Hand writes.