The Latest News In Lithography
Export controls; Blue-X and 3.1nm litho; curvilinear masks; Tekscend; mature masks
By Mark LaPedus
For decades, lithography has been an important part of the semiconductor industry. Lithography is a technology that is used to process and develop today’s chips. It is required to make the world’s most advanced chips.
Lithography is a complex business with a multitude of facets. The same is true with photomasks.
To help the industry, Semiecosystem has compiled the latest and more significant company and technology announcements in lithography and photomasks. Here’s the latest:
Export controls
In the United States, Congressman Michael Baumgartner (WA‑05) introduced the Multilateral Alignment of Technology Controls on Hardware (MATCH) Act, a bipartisan bill designed to strengthen U.S. national security by closing critical gaps in export controls on semiconductor manufacturing equipment (SME).
The bill has not been ratified--yet. Nonetheless, the MATCH Act addresses two primary issues: Entity-Based Gaps, which allow adversaries to use front companies and subsidiaries to bypass restrictions, and Allied Asymmetry, where allies provide critical tools and servicing that U.S. firms are prohibited from selling.
Key provisions of the MATCH Act include:
*Country-Wide Prohibition on “Chokepoint” SME: Prohibits the sale of the most essential SME to any destination inside a country of concern. This includes, at a minimum, Deep Ultraviolet (DUV) immersion lithography and cryogenic etch tools for advanced and legacy chips.
*Tighter Restrictions on China’s National Champions: Designates as covered facilities all fabs run by ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), Hua Hong, Huawei, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), and Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp. (YMTC), including all subsidiaries and affiliates.
Blue-X and 3.1nm lithography
The Blue-X Technical Working Group (TWG) is a consortium that is exploring shorter wavelength lithography to extend Moore’s Law.
Blue-X is exploring the development of a lithography technology below 13.5nm. Today, 13.5nm is the wavelength used by today’s extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography.
Initially, Blue-X was looking at 6.7nm wavelengths. Now, the consortium has decided to focus its efforts on a new wavelength—3.1nm. “By selecting a wavelength of 3.1nm and an NA of 0.27, we demonstrated that a depth of focus of ~43nm and k₁ ≈ 0.6 can be achieved for resolving 7nm half-pitch metal nodes projected for the mid-2030s,” according to the Blue-X TWG.
The group says that the development of a “Blue-X micro-exposure tool (MET)” is feasible within three to five years.
Organized by EUV Litho Inc., the Blue-X TWG consortium now includes more than 75 member organizations and over 220 assignees representing chip makers, OEMs, national laboratories, universities and consultants.
At the recent SPIE Advanced Lithography + Patterning conference, Blue-X presented its latest results, including:
*Multilayer (ML) optics in the water window region, with Sc/Cr at 3.127nm selected as the current working baseline. (Sc is scandium, while Cr is chromium.)
*Strategies to improve ML reflectivity from ~40% today toward 55–60% through interface control and roughness reduction.
*Plasma source modeling (Ga and Sc) and FEL development efforts are in the works.
*Four proposed paths to reduce stochastics at shorter wavelengths.
Blue-X is evaluating resists at Berkeley Lab. It plans to conduct interference lithography exposures at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in mid-2026.
He lithography
Norway’s Lace Lithography has raised $40 million in funding. Lace is developing a novel lithography system. It uses a beam of helium (He) atoms to pattern features on silicon.
Atomico led the new funding round for Lace. M12 (Microsoft’s Venture Fund), Linse Capital, SETT and Nysnø also participated in the round. Existing investors, Vsquared Ventures, Future Ventures and Runa Capital, also participated.
To date, Lace Lithography has received over $60 million in funding.
At the recent SPIE event, Lace presented a paper. “In this paper we present first results from a He atom lithography prototype tool. We demonstrate two different exposure modes: proximity and diffraction. For proximity, we present patterns of holes down to 50 nm CD at a half pitch of 100 nm. For diffraction, we present a regular line pattern with a half pitch of 50 nm,” according to an abstract from Lace.
“The wavelength of a helium atom is typically less than 0.1 nm, smaller than any desired resolution, while the deposited energy (the patterning energy) is no more than 20 eV and independent of the wavelength,” according to Lace.
Curvilinear masks
In a video presentation, Aki Fujimura, chairman and chief executive of D2S, reflects on how far the industry has come in terms of computational resources and multi-beam mask writing to enable the move to curvilinear masks and design.
D2S is a supplier of GPU-acceleration solutions for semiconductor manufacturing. D2S is also the managing company sponsor of the eBeam Initiative.
Tekscend expands
Japan’s Tekscend Photomask plans to build a new photomask production facility in Icheon, South Korea.
The facility is expected to produce photomasks at the 14nm node and below. The plant is expected to be completed in 2027. Production will start in 2028/2029.
Tekscend Photomask, formerly known as Toppan Photomask, is one of the world’s largest merchant suppliers of photomasks. The company has been doing business in Icheon for more than 35 years since the construction of its first plant in the city in 1990.
The new plant represents Tekscend’s third photomask facility in Icheon, which is a city in the Gyeonggi Province.
Tekscend recently signed an investment support agreement with the Icheon government. Under this agreement, the Icheon government will provide administrative support, including handling various permits and approvals for the new plant.
In addition, Tekscend recently broke ground on a new photomask manufacturing facility in Singapore.
Mature mask inspection
Chips that are manufactured using mature, or trailing-edge, processes are critical. Process nodes at 90nm to 250nm and above remain widely used in applications such as logic, analog and power devices.
Manufacturers of these nodes are seeking mask inspection solutions that deliver higher sensitivity, shorter inspection times and lower cost of ownership.
To address these needs, Japan’s Lasertec has introduced the MATRICS X712 Series, a new mask inspection system designed to meet the needs of both mask shops and wafer fabs.
The mask inspection system is based on the company’s MATRICS platform. The system incorporates redesigned optics, a new image processing engine, and an enhanced user interface.
Using an in-house 266nm laser and proprietary algorithms, the X712 can execute up to three inspection modes (die-to-database, die-to-die and single-die) simultaneously and achieve inspection times as fast as 22 minutes per mask.
The MATRICS X712 Series supports 5-, 6-, and 7-inch masks and commonly used mask materials, including Cr, MoSi, and OMOG. It is compatible with MEBES, OASIS and other database formats and can be seamlessly integrated into existing data workflows.