ASML Lowers Chip Manufacturing Costs with New TWINSCAN XT:1000.SAN FRANCISCO San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden -- ASML Holding ASML is a Dutch company and the world’s primary supplier of lithography systems for the semiconductor industry. Of all the major chip producers worldwide, more than 80% are ASML customers. NV (ASML ASML Abstract State Machine Language ASML Anisotropic Shielded Microstrip Line ) today announced a new KrF lithography lithography (lĭthŏg`rəfē), type of planographic or surface printing. It is distinguished from letterpress (relief) printing and from intaglio printing (in which the design is cut or etched into the plate). system that significantly reduces operating costs operating costs npl → gastos mpl operacionales for its customers. The ASML TWINSCAN[TM] XT:1000 scanner extends cost efficient KrF technology to resolutions that previously required more expensive ArF technology. Customers can realize savings of 30 percent or more per layer as a result of lower operating costs for KrF technology, particularly from cheaper lasers and lower materials cost such as KrF resists. Today KrF systems account for about 35 percent of the total semiconductor lithography market (units). By introducing the XT:1000 ASML shows its commitment to cost-effective production systems. The XT:1000 provides benefits for both logic and memory manufacturers. The XT:1000's high numerical aperture The measurement of the acceptance angle of an optical fiber, which is the maximum angle at which the core of the fiber will take in light that will be contained within the core. Taken from the fiber core axis (center of core), the measurement is the square root of the squared refractive (NA) of 0.93 can resolve 80-nanometer (nm) device features, far smaller than the 100-nm of today's KrF systems. The XT:1000 also improves value for customers, with an increased throughput of 165 300-mm wafers per hour under volume manufacturing conditions while maintaining the same industry-leading 6-nm overlay as leading edge ArF systems. "ASML understands that lithography needs to be cost-effective as well as technologically advanced," said Martin van den Brink, executive vice president marketing and technology at ASML. "Our goal is to reduce our customers' cost per wafer. The XT:1000 allows them to produce chips with less costly KrF tools, even as they shrink their devices." ASML expects to begin shipping the XT:1000 by mid 2008. About KrF and ArF technologies KrF and ArF refer to the types of laser light sources used to project circuit patterns onto a silicon wafer. The light from a KrF source has a wavelength of 248-nm, which ASML manipulates to print circuit features below 100-nm. The ArF light source has a 193-nm wavelength which is currently able to print features as small as 40-nm - a nanometer is one millionth of a millimeter. Chip makers use both types of systems in the production process of a single chip. A typical chip consists of up to 30 or 40 layers. ArF and KrF systems are used to image the critical layers (smallest features) and mid-critical layers (slightly larger features), respectively. Remaining (non-critical) features are imaged using an i-Line light source with a wavelength of 365-nm. About ASML ASML is the world's leading provider of lithography systems for the semiconductor industry, manufacturing complex machines that are critical to the production of integrated circuits Integrated circuits Miniature electronic circuits produced within and upon a single semiconductor crystal, usually silicon. Integrated circuits range in complexity from simple logic circuits and amplifiers, about 1/20 in. (1. or chips. Headquartered in Veldhoven, the Netherlands, ASML is traded on Euronext Amsterdam and NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on under the symbol ASML. For more information, visit the web site www.asml.com |
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