Researchers at SEMATECH North have reached a significant milestone in reducing deposition tool-generated defects in mask blanks used for extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL), bringing that technology a step closer to commercial feasibility.
Technologists from SEMATECH, Veeco Instruments Inc., and Asahi Glass achieved an extremely low level of added defects in recent work with Veeco's NEXUS system, an ion beam deposition (IBD) low defect density (LDD) tool for deposition of critical films.