MELVILLE, N.Y., Feb. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Canon
U.S.A., Inc., a leader of digital
imaging solutions, has announced that its parent company, Canon
Inc., will commence sales of the FPA-1100NR2, the world's first
mass-production replica mask manufacturing equipment. The
FPA-1100NR2 duplicates masks for semiconductor lithography
equipment utilizing low-cost nanoimprint technology. Canon Inc. has
announced that FPA-1100NR2 equipment will be sold to Dai Nippon
Printing Co., Ltd, a leading supplier of masks for
nanoimprinting.
Facing the difficult challenge of circuit scaling or
miniaturization, the key to the advancement of semiconductor
devices, nanoimprint lithography (NIL) has garnered a lot of
attention as a new technology that achieves even more detailed
circuit patterns of 10nm (1 nanometer = 1 billionth of a meter) at
an even lower cost, compared with photolithography.1
Since 2004, Canon has been carrying out R&D in the field of
semiconductor manufacturing equipment that utilizes nanoimprint
technology.
When mass producing semiconductor devices with nanoimprint
lithography, it is important to control the cost of the replica
masks that are required for the patterning of advanced
semiconductor devices. This can be challenging due to the
expensive, time-consuming step of using electron beam writers to
define patterns on a mask. To address this problem, Canon has
developed mask replication technology that enables the fabrication
of replica masks at a low cost.
Employing nanoimprint technology, the FPA-1100NR2 can faithfully
transcribe a pattern from an expensive master mask to a replica
mask blank in a short amount of time, making possible replica mask
production with high efficiency. Through this process, mask
productivity can be rapidly increased at the production sites of
nanoimprint mask suppliers, to greatly reduce the manufacturing
costs of semiconductor devices produced using nanoimprint
technology and realize a cutting-edge lithography process with a
reduced cost of ownership.2
Canon will host several presentations on its nanoimprint
technology and will report on the progress of NIL development at
SPIE Advanced Lithography 2017, to be held from February 26 to March 2, 2017, in San Jose, California, U.S.A.
For more information about Canon U.S.A.'s industrial products, please visit
https://www.usa.canon.com/industrial.
About Nanoimprint Technology
Nanoimprint lithography manufacturing equipment utilizes a
patterning technology that physically presses a mask, into which
circuit patterns have been cut, onto a resin wafer resist to
faithfully reproduce patterns with a higher resolution and greater
uniformity compared to those produced by photolithography
equipment. Additionally, as this technology does not require an
array of wide-diameter lenses and the expensive light sources
necessary for advanced photolithography equipment, NIL equipment
achieves a simpler, more compact design, allowing for multiple
units to be clustered together for increased productivity.
About Canon U.S.A.,
Inc.
Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a
leading provider of consumer, business-to-business, and industrial
digital imaging solutions to the United
States and to Latin America
and the Caribbean markets. With
approximately $29 billion in global
revenue, its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ), ranks third
overall in U.S. patents granted in 2016.† Canon
U.S.A. is committed to the highest
level of customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing 100 percent
U.S.-based consumer service and support for all of the products it
distributes in the United States.
Canon U.S.A. is dedicated to its
Kyosei philosophy of social and environmental
responsibility. In 2014, the Canon Americas Headquarters secured
LEED® Gold certification, a recognition for the design,
construction, operations and maintenance of high-performance green
buildings. To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon
U.S.A., sign up for the Company's
RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/rss and follow us
on Twitter @CanonUSA. For media inquiries, please contact
pr@cusa.canon.com.
†Based on weekly patent counts issued by United
States Patent and Trademark Office.
1 A semiconductor lithography system that utilizes
wide-diameter lenses and a laser light source to transcribe circuit
patterns onto wafers.
2 Necessary equipment investments and operating costs
related to semiconductor production. Used as one of the benchmarks
for assessing the productivity of processes and production
equipment used in a semiconductor manufacturer's high-volume
production line.
Canon U.S.A. Web
site:
http://www.usa.canon.com
For sales information/customer support:
1-800-OK-CANON
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SOURCE Canon U.S.A., Inc.