World’s First Immersion-ready Excimer Light Source Enabling Immersion Lithography

Just as water is extending the potential of 193-nm lithography, Cymer’s production–proven, MOPA-based platform is enabling the industry to push the limits of deep ultraviolet (DUV) technologies and fast becoming the industry standard to support the exacting needs for ultra-high numerical aperture (NA), immersion-scanner systems, enabling the industry to stay ahead of Moore’s Law.

The XLA 200 is Cymer’s third-generation, leading-edge argon fluoride (ArF) light source to feature the production-proven, dual-chamber Master Oscillator Power Amplifier (MOPA) platform—enabling both ultra line-narrowed bandwidth and 60 W of output power. Because the XLA 200 is built on the existing XL Series platform, customers will enjoy seamless integration into their existing processes and rapid time-to-yield.

By utilizing the ArF (193 nm) exposure wavelength, the XLA 200 enables chip design rules to shrink, which leads to faster processing speeds and boosts memory capacity per chip. With an ultra line-narrowed spectral bandwidth of <0.12 pm FWHM, the XLA 200 provides the light that enables high contrast imaging for lithography tools with an numerical aperture (NA) up to > 1.0.

Consider these benefits of the XLA 200:

• MOPA operation increases consumable module lifetimes and lowers total consumable costs by approximately 50 percent.
• Twice the pulse energy and fewer pulses per exposure window ensures that lithographers experience increased cost savings.
• Superior pulse energy and wavelength control technology enable tight control of exposure dose and wavelength stability.
• Ultra-line narrowed spectrum bandwidth (<=0.12 pm FWHM, <=0.25 pm E95%) enables immersion lithography.