AMD and the IBM Alliance successfully test EUV lithography

Members of the IBM Alliance have created an entire semiconductor chip with extreme UV light (EUV) lithography for the first time. "Full field" semiconductor production based on EUV lithography, using 22nm structures, should be possible by 2016.

The test wafers were produced at AMD's Fab 36 in Dresden using 193nm laser light and immersion lithography dies measuring 22mm by 33mm, creating 45nm structures. The first layer of metal interconnects on these dies was then created with EUV lithography at the IBM Alliance's research lab at the University of Albany's NanoTech Institute (CNSE). Electrical tests on the first batch of chips were successful, according to AMD.

Previous EUV tests had only been conducted on "narrow fields", covering part of the wafer at a wavelength of only 13.5nm using complicated mirror masks. The next step that the IBM Alliance partners want to test is the use of the new technology for all critical layers of semiconductor components.

(ehe)