First Production Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography On Track for Second Half of 2010

Carl Zeiss, the world’s leading manufacturer of optical systems for chip fabrication, has now delivered a complete optical system for production-ready Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUVL), a new technology for microchip fabrication. This optical system forms a core module of the first EUVL production system from the Dutch manufacturer and long-term partner to Carl Zeiss, ASML. Delivery of the complete EUVL system, starting at a rate of 60 wafers per hour, is planned in the second half of 2010. It is intended for production of microchips with structures in the 20 Nanometer range.

ASML has already received five orders for the EUVL production system, with deliveries starting in 2010. “Our recent successes are important milestones which show that EUVL is making excellent progress as a cost effective single patterning technology. EUVL has the resolution power to carry Moore’s law beyond the next decade,” says Christian Wagner, Senior Product Manager at ASML