Patterning the Ångström Future: High-NA EUV lithography breakthroughs

Extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) continues to make scaling cost effective for chip manufacturers and allows Moore's law to pursue. EUVL entered high volume production in 2019 and the next step in this evolutionary process is the implementation of High NA EUVL with its increased Numerical Aperture (NA) of 0.55, which enables further scaling down to 8nm.

The key to unlocking the full potential of High NA EUV lithography lies in the co-optimization of various elements: the scanner, mask, resist stack, and etch. By achieving an optimal synergy between these components, we can ensure the highest performance levels for High NA EUV lithography.

Recognizing the importance of this development, imec and ASML have joined forces to establish a specialized High NA EUV Lab which aims to expedite the adoption of high NA EUV by providing to the development requirements of chip manufacturers, as well as equipment and materials suppliers.

These achievements, realized through the collaborative efforts of the ASML-imec High NA EUV Lab and imec’s extensive partner ecosystem, represent a major milestone in propelling the industry into the angstrom era.