Just as the introduction of water into the process has extended the potential of 193nm lithography, the newest release of Cymer's production-proven, Master Oscillator Power Amplifier (MOPA)-based XL Series is now enabling high volume production immersion lithography down to the 45nm process node levels.

The XLA 300 is Cymer's fourth-generation, leading-edge, 193nm argon fluoride (ArF) laser light source featuring the production-proven, MOPA platform-enabling both ultra line-narrowed bandwidth and up to 90W of output power at an industry-leading 6kHz repetition rate. Higher rep rate of 6kHz enables high throughput to deliver sustained productivity for volume manufacturing.

With the XLA 300 chip design rules can continue to shrink, which leads to faster processing speeds and boosts memory capacity per chip. With the capability to deliver ultra line-narrowed spectral bandwidth of <0.12 pm FWHM, the XLA 300 provides the light that enables high contrast imaging for lithography tools with an numerical aperture (NA) up to > 1.3.

Key benefits of the XLA 300 include:

• Highest repetition rate capability (6kHz) enables higher throughput
• Tightest bandwidth (<=0.12pm FWHM/<= 0.25pm E95) enables exposure of most critical features, allowing flexibility in optimizing catadioptric lens designs as well as support for ultra-high numerical apertures
• Ability to meet and exceed highest power requirements to deliver greater throughput
• Wider process window, whereby, high-dose resists can be used without lowering throughput
• Capability to enable resolution enhancement techniques (RET) without reducing throughput
• Accurate on-board E95 metrology coupled with Advanced Spectral Control for tightest process control/Optical Proximity Effects

Because the XLA 300 is built on the existing XL Series platform, customers will enjoy seamless integration into their existing processes and rapid time-to-yield.