Intel said it has ordered a "beta" EUV tool from ASML, which will ship the system to the microprocessor giant in the 2005 timeframe. Intel also plans to take delivery of ASML's first "gamma"--or production-worthy--EUV tool in 2006.

While some lithography experts question whether EUV or any other post-optical exposure technology will be ready for fabs this decade, Intel believes it will be ready to use extreme ultraviolet tools and processes in the next five years.

During last month's SPIE Microlithography conference, ASML announced its first EUV tool for production of chips at the 45-nm node (0.045-micron) and below. The company's "alpha" (initial-operational) EUV system is due out in 2003 or early 2004.

The Dutch lithography company is developing the tool with the help of a European consortium, called "Extatic," which stands for the Extreme UV Alpha Tool Integration Consortium (see Feb. 19 story ).

Intel would not provide information on the value of the EUV tool order. However, industry analysts believe next-generation lithography (NGL) systems, based on EUV technology, could sell for about $40 million per unit--if and when these machines are shipped by the middle of this decade. EUV is one of several technologies vying for dominance in the NGL era for the chip production at 65-nm (0.065-miron) and below.

ASML's EUV tool will not be geared for R&D at Intel, but rather full-fledged chip production at the company's "P1266" process node, said Peter Silverman, director of lithography capital equipment development at Intel's Technology Manufacturing Engineering division.

"The tool is targeted for '1266,' which is the 45-nm (0.045-micron) node," said Silverman, who is an Intel Fellow. The Santa Clara company expects to make chips at the 45-nm node by 2007, he said, during a briefing with SBN before today's announcement.

At present, Intel is now producing chips in its "P860/1260" process, which is the company's 0.13-micron (130-nm) technology. (The P860 is used in 8-inch fabs, while the 1260 is targeted at 12-inch wafer lines.) For the critical dimensions in this node, Intel is using 248-nm lithography tools from Japan's Nikon Corp., according to sources.

By 2003, Intel is expected to move to its "P1262," or 0.090-micron (90-nm) technology, which will employ both 193-nm and 248-nm scanners. Then, around 2005, Intel plans to make ICs with its "P1264" or 65-nm (0.065-micron) process, which will utilize 157-nm exposure tools.

When ready, ASML's EUV tools will be installed in an undisclosed 300-mm wafer fab in Hillsboro, Ore. The EUV system will be paired up with 157-nm scanners to make 45-nm chips in a "mix-and-match" mode, according to Silverman.

"We have been using a mix-and-match strategy since the early 1990s," he said. "I'm sure that we will be using 157-nm and EUV tools at the 45-nm node," he added, referring to the use of different lithography generations to handle various mask levels in IC production.

While EUV and competitive NGL tools are not expected to move into production until the end of this decade, Intel and others are already placing orders for these complex systems in order to get a head start in R&D. Besides Intel, IBM, Sematech, Selete and others are already ordering EUV tools.

NGL competition heats up

At the same time, the competition is also taking shape and heating up in the next-generation lithography race, as several groups from Europe, Japan, and the United States announced their first tools at the recent SPIE Microlithography conference in Santa Clara (see March 8 story ).

Meanwhile, today's announcement between Intel and ASML surprised some industry observers. In general, Intel rarely publicly discusses its tool purchases, partly because it doesn't want to tip its hand. Intel's tool suppliers are also strictly prohibited from disclosing their shipments to Intel, under the threat of orders being canceled, according to many vendors.

But while Intel has decided to go public with its EUV tool order, the Santa Clara-based company is still playing its lithography cards close to the vest, especially a hotly contested bid for 193-nm scanner tools that will be used in the upcoming 90-nm process generation.

Sources believe that Nikon has won the first round of orders for 193-nm tools from Intel, although it is also believed that ASML has received some bookings for 193-nm systems as well. Intel has said it might end up with two suppliers of 193-nm step-and-scan systems.

Without naming its chip-making customer, Nikon last month announced that its 193-nm and 248-nm scanners were used along with one of its i-line steppers to produce the industry's first fully functional ICs based on a 90-nm process technology (see March 20 story ). It was widely believed that the unidentified chip maker was Intel, which had just announced its new 90-nm process technology and functional SRAM prototype chips on 300-mm wafers (see March 12 story ).

No talking about 193-nm suppliers

Intel remains mum about its 193-nm lithography vendors. "In general, we don't disclose our vendors," Silverman said. "This EUV announcement is an exception. Since ASML is the only tool vendor that is selling an EUV tool in the market, it would be silly for us not to announce the order," he added.

It also comes as no surprise that Intel is promoting EUV exposure technology and ASML, according to some analysts. In fact, the chip giant is one of the major backers and investors behind EUV technology.

The company is part of a U.S.-led EUV consortium--called the Extreme Ultraviolet LLC, which was formed back in 1997. The consortium is made up of Advanced Micro Devices, IBM, Infineon, Intel, Micron, Motorola, and U.S. Department of Energy's national laboratories.

Last year, the EUV LLC announced it had developed and demonstrated the world's first exposure tool based on EUV. At the time, the tool was able to print static images at the 100-nm (0.10-micron) node. At last month's SPIE event, the consortium announced that it upgraded the tool, enabling it to print 70-nm (0.070-micron) and 50-nm (0.05-micron) chip designs (see March 5 story ).

The EUV LLC is not developing a production-worthy EUV tool, but rather the organization hopes to demonstrate that this technology is viable for chip-making purposes in future wafer fabrication facilities.

Originally, the EUV LLC had two "system integrators"--ASML and Silicon Valley Group Inc., which were separately supposed to license the technology from the consortium and develop commercial EUV tools for the marketplace, according to analysts.

But in 2001, ASML acquired SVG for $1.6 billion in stock and then merged the tool programs of the two companies. To win U.S. approval of the purchase, ASML agreed to keep lithography R&D and production in the United States.

Intel's behind big merger

Intel had been a vocal supporter of the ASML-SVG merger while it was being reviewed by the U.S. government. Behind the scenes, say sources, Intel actually brokered the deal in the first place because it believed it would take the combined efforts of ASML and SVG to make EUV viable for the commercial market (see July 2 story ).

At the same time, ASML and others have been working closely with the EUV LLC. In fact, the Dutch-based company has licensed the patent portfolio of the EUV LLC, according to Silverman.

In addition, the EUV LLC is also working with Exitech Ltd., which is also developing a EUV tool as well. The EUV LLC and Germany's Carl Zeiss are developing the lens for Exitech's EUV tool. One of the first customers for Exitech's EUV tool is International Sematech, an R&D organization in Austin, Tex. (see March 5 story).

But ASML's EUV tool is far different from those from Exitech or the EUV LLC. Targeted for processing chips at the 50-nm node and below, ASML's EUV tool is build around its TwinScan architecture, a platform used in the company's existing 193-nm scanners for 200- and 300-mm wafers.

The tool is based on a six-mirror, optical subsystem, which features a high numerical aperture (NA) of 0.25. The lens, dubbed the MET-2, is being developed by Carl Zeiss of Germany.

The tool makes use of modular, five-chamber system to process the wafers. One of the chambers supports the laser source, although ASML has not yet committed about the specific type of source technology.

Hunting for the best source

The laser source remains a problem for EUV. At present, for example, an EUV alpha tool that is being developed by a U.S.-led consortium currently runs at 10 watts of power, but the unit must run at two to four times that specification to make it a production-worthy system, according to analysts.

"For EUV, the two biggest challenges are the source and defect densities on the masks," Silverman said. "The intent is wait at the last possible moment to decide upon a source."

But still, the infrastructure is growing in terms of the development of EUV-based laser sources, photomasks, resists, and inspection tools. "There are ten different companies developing laser sources,' he said. "A number of companies are working on inspection tools," he said.

However, the problems in EUV leave some experts to believe that the technology will never appear in production fabs. In fact, some believe that optical tools will continue to extend into the future, thereby pushing out the need for EUV and other NGL tools.

Optical lithography is expected to last until the end of this decade, pushing out the need for exotic, next-generation tools to about 2010, according to the new 2001 International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) (see Nov. 29 story).

Silverman dismissed the notion by some that EUV will not appear in production fabs, saying the technology will be required for next-generation ICs. "We are very confident about EUV," he said.

The Intel executive did dismiss some of the competitive NGL technologies, such as electron-beam projection lithography (NPL), X-ray, among other technologies. EPL is being pushed by the team of IBM Corp. and Nikon, it was noted.

EPL makes use of complex masks and other exotic technologies, he said. "EPL is not very interesting to us," he said. "It's very slow."

Silverman is also not keen on the technology being pushed by an Japanese NGL venture, dubbed Leepl Corp. Last year, the venture rolled out a prototype tool, based on low-energy e-beam proximity projection lithography (LEEPL) technology (see Dec. 14 story ).

"It's a very strange e-beam technology," he said. "It combines the difficulty of X-ray masks with the problems of e-beam."