Feb 20 2008
Prior to SPIE Advanced Lithography 2008, Cymer, Inc., the world's leading supplier of light sources used in semiconductor lithography, announced today the shipment of its 100th XLA 6kHz laser - the industry's first production-worthy light source for 45nm immersion lithography - to a high-volume manufacturer.
Cymer's XLA 300 and XLA 400 6kHz immersion light sources are built on the company's highly successful Master Oscillator Power Amplifier (MOPA)-based platform and provide customers with higher repetition rates for increased throughput, and tighter bandwidth resulting in improved resolution and CD control .
"Delivery of our 100th XLA product is a testament to our continued ability to provide customers with products in-line with their stringent manufacturing requirements," said Bob Akins, Cymer's Chairman and CEO. "Cymer's proven XLA platform offers customers features that improve resolution, reduce costs, and increase laser uptime - all crucial elements to facilitating time-to-market demands."
As chipmakers continue their quest for high volume production and lower operating costs, the XLA 6kHz products provide a smooth transition to Cymer's next-generation XLR products, which enable significant advances in performance, availability and operating costs for the industry. The XLR provides a 1.5 times improvement in pulse energy stability, increasing yield and productivity, in addition to a 20-percent reduction in cost of ownership (CoO) compared to previous generation ArF products.
Through the research and development of leading-edge ArF tools for more than 20 years, Cymer has demonstrated its continued commitment to meeting chipmaker and scanner manufacturer customers' exacting specifications and manufacturing requirements for volume production of today's most advanced semiconductor chips. The XLA technology was first launched in 2003 and serves as a milestone of Cymer's market leadership.