ASML partners with Nippon Control System to streamline process flow from design to mask production
February 22 2016 - 11:35AM
San Jose, California, 22 February 2016 - ASML
Holding NV (ASML) today announced a partnership with Nippon Control
System Corporation (NCS) to integrate their products from optical
proximity correction (OPC) to mask data preparation (MDP) on a
common platform, delivering improvements in mask tape-out
productivity and patterning performance in wafer fabrication.
Semiconductor manufacturers will now be able to deploy ASML's
computational lithography products and NCS' MDP products into a
seamless process flow for a faster and more accurate design to mask
(D2M) solution.
The collaboration addresses the challenges
customers are facing in mask tape-out and wafer patterning driven
by growing mask complexity with shrinking process nodes in both
multiple patterning and EUV applications. Specific integration
examples and benefits include:
-
A complete MDP flow to identify and improve mask
accuracy required for pattern fidelity, critical dimension
uniformity (CDU) and overlay performance;
-
A seamless processing and handling of large
volumes of data between OPC and MDP operations to reduce cycle time
and optimize productivity, while maximizing utilization of
available computing resources.
"By connecting ASML's OPC and NCS' MDP in an
integrated tape-out flow, we have efficiently utilized computing
clusters and greatly reduced our design to mask cycle time," said
Laurent Tuo, Fellow and Technical Director at TSMC. "Such
connectivity also enables mask process enhancements based on OPC
output to deliver better imaging performance and more robust
process window."
An integrated OPC and MDP solution is of greater
importance for EUV lithography. "Mask proximity effects are
stronger with electron back scattering from the multi-layer mask
stack composed of heavy metal elements," said Nobuyasu Horiuchi,
President of NCS. "An integrated EUV MDP solution flow will help
accurately model and correctly handle mask making and wafer imaging
processes that impact CDU in EUV lithography."
"Together with NCS, we are enabling complete
solutions from design to mask and driving wafer patterning
performance to support our customers' roadmaps at leading-edge
nodes," said Christophe Fouquet, Executive Vice President of
Applications at ASML. "This partnership will further extend the
scanner imaging and overlay capabilities, by incorporating MDP in
the holistic lithography solutions that consist of computational
lithography, wafer lithography, metrology and process control."
About Nippon Control System
Corporation (NCS)
Nippon Control System Corporation (NCS) is a mask data preparation
(MDP) software provider and has been providing MDP systems and
fracturing tools to the semiconductor industry since 1990. NCS
offers NDE Mask Manufacturable Suite (NDE-MS) which includes all
applications required by mask manufacturers after OPC and before
mask writing. The applications are NDE-Fracture, MRC, Select,
Pattern-Match, SCRD, PEC, MPC, and View, supporting rule-based and
model-based mask process correction (MPC), for both DUV and EUV
mask applications. For more information:
http://www.nippon-control-system.co.jp
About ASML
ASML is one of the world's leading manufacturers of chip-making
equipment. Our vision is to enable affordable microelectronics that
improve the quality of life. To achieve this, our mission is to
invent, develop, manufacture and service advanced technology for
high-tech lithography, metrology and software solutions for the
semiconductor industry. ASML's guiding principle is continuing
Moore's Law towards ever smaller, cheaper, more powerful and
energy-efficient semiconductors. This results in increasingly
powerful and capable electronics that enable the world to progress
within a multitude of fields, including healthcare, technology,
communications, energy, mobility, and entertainment. We are a
multinational company with over 70 locations in 16 countries,
headquartered in Veldhoven, the Netherlands. We employ more than
14,000 people on payroll and flexible contracts (expressed in full
time equivalents). ASML is traded on Euronext Amsterdam and NASDAQ
under the symbol ASML. More information about ASML, our products
and technology, and career opportunities is available on:
www.asml.com
Forward Looking
Statements
This document contains statements relating to certain projections
and business trends that are forward-looking, including statements
with respect to ASML's partnership with NSC and the expected
benefits from the partnership, including the expected performance
and productivity improvements in semiconductor fabrication. You can
generally identify these statements by the use of words like "may",
"will", "could", "should", "project", "believe", "anticipate",
"expect", "plan", "estimate", "forecast", "potential", "intend",
"continue" and variations of these words or comparable words. These
statements are not historical facts, but rather are based on
current expectations, estimates, assumptions and projections about
the business and our future financial results and readers should
not place undue reliance on them. Forward-looking statements do not
guarantee future performance and involve risks and uncertainties.
These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the risk
that the expected benefits with respect to ASML's partnership with
NSC may not be realized and other risks indicated in the risk
factors included in ASML's Annual Report on Form 20-F and other
filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. These
forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this
document. We do not undertake to update or revise the
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
Link to Press Release
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Source: ASML Holding via Globenewswire
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