Obducat tips 300-mm nano-imprint litho
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Mark LaPedus
(10/11/2005 1:42 PM EDT)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=172300177
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Despite narrowing its focus to non-semiconductor applications in recent times, Obducat AB is quietly developing a new line of nano-imprint lithography systems for its eventual re-entry into the chip-production sector.
Obducat (Malmo, Sweden), the world’s leading supplier of nano-imprint lithography in terms of installed base, is devising a range of 200- and 300-mm tools for both semiconductor and non-semiconductor applications. According to its roadmap, the company is developing single- and multi-layer tools with full alignment capabilities for sub-50-nm designs — at throughputs of 90 wafers an hour.
The Swedish company appears to be aiming its future tools for chip-production at the 32-nm node and beyond. Nano-imprint is among the lithography candidates for IC production at 32-nm and beyond. Other possible hopefuls include extreme ultraviolet (EUV), immersion lithography and maskless.
“I think [nano-imprint lithography] has some advantages over EUV,” said Patrik Lundstrom, chief executive of Obducat, in an interview. “The big difference is cost. EUV is also behind schedule.”
Nano-imprint claims to be one-fifth the cost of EUV, although both technologies are unproven in chip production. And both nano-imprint and EUV could get pushed out by immersion lithography — which initially hopes to move into chip production at the 45-nm node.
Other nano-imprint vendors are also developing tools for similar applications, including EV Group, Molecular Imprints Inc. (MII), Nanonex, and Suss MicroTec.
And a three-year European Union funded research program has recently produced an imprint lithography machine for sub-50-nm work, and the participants in the project plan to have a stepper available in 2006 suitable for work on 300-mm wafers. The project, dubbed Souvenir, includes EV Group (Scharding, Austria) and CNRS-LPN (Marcoussis, France) (see Aug. 30 story).
Hoping to keep its lead in the market, Obducat is moving full speed ahead with nano-imprint. For some time, the company has sold 2.5- and 6-inch capable nano-imprint tools for R&D and production. Its tools are mainly geared for the development of niche products, such as MRAMs, photonic devices, storage media and others.
The company also hoped to propel nano-imprint lithography in mainstream semiconductor production. But like most nano-imprint hopefuls, Obducat experienced some resistance for its technology in the semiconductor community, Lundstrom said.
Chip makers remain committed to conventional optical lithography for the 65-nm — and perhaps the 45-nm nodes, thereby pushing out nano-imprint in the semiconductor space.
So, Obducat is focusing more on non-semiconductor applications for now, he said. “We are not doing much work in the semiconductor market now,” he said.
Still, there are some major, non-semiconductor opportunities for the company. Recently, for example, Obducat entered into an agreement with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. on the production of stamping machines for DVD optical discs. Obducat said it would drop other projects to pursue its opportunities with Samsung.
The stampers referenced in the Samsung agreement are for the development of next generation Blu-ray format DVDs, which are set to store 100-gigabytes per layer, in comparison with 25-gigabytes in current DVDs (see Aug. 12 story).
Behind the scenes, however, Obducat appears to be gearing up for its re-entry into the chip-production sector, according to its roadmap.
In the first half of 2006, the company plans to develop a 200-mm, fully-automatic machine. The tool is a single-layer machine said to have an overall throughput of 90 wafers an hour, according to the roadmap.
In 2007, Obducat plans to roll out a high-throughput, 300-mm tool with single-layer capabilities. And following that, it plans to debut a 300-mm, multi-layer machine with high-throughput capabilities.
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