For 110nm advanced devices incorporating an ultra-high N.A. lens Announcing sale of Nikon's Step-and-Repeat Scanning System NSR-S207D

Sales Summary

Product name	Nikon Step-and-Repeat Scanning System NSR-S207D
Price (excluding tax)	About 1.3 ~ 1.5 billion yen (varies by spec or configuration)
Sales launch date	October 2003

Development Background

Progress continues on increasing the density of VLSI chips, the foundation of the IT revolution, and today we are moving to the production of 90 nm rule devices. Nikon released the world's first lens-based scanning system, the NSR-S201A, in April 1995.

Since that time, the Nikon lens-scanning stepper has won consistent praise from semiconductor manufacturers around the world for its performance and reliability, and more than 600 i-line, KrF excimer laser, and ArF excimer laser models have been shipped.

This latest market entry, the NSR-S207D, incorporates a low-aberration projection lens with an ultra-high N.A. (N.A. 0.82), in combination with the KrF excimer laser for mass production of 110nm devices. Furthermore, the newly developed body has dramatically improved alignment accuracy and throughput performance. Throughput is now 115 or more 300mm wafers per hour, and 160 or more 200mm wafers per hour.

Major Performances

Resolution	110nm or better
N.A. (Numerical Aperture)	0.82
Light source	KrF excimer laser (248nm wavelength)
Reduction ratio	1:4
Exposure field	26 X 33mm
Alignment accuracy	16nm or better (M+3σ)
Throughput (per hour)	300mm wafers: 115 or more wafers 200mm wafers: 160 or more wafers

Major Characteristics

• Ultra-high N.A. (N.A. 0.82) projection lens
  Incorporates an advanced-performance N.A. 0.82 reduction projection lens in combination with a KrF excimer laser, to achieve mass production of next-generation 110nm devices.
  
  
• Higher throughput (processing performance) and improved alignment accuracy
  A newly developed body achieves further improvements in throughput. Throughput is now 160 or more 200mm wafers per hour (an improvement of about 9% over the previous model), and 115 or more 300mm wafers per hour (an improvement of about 31% over the previous model). Alignment accuracy is also up by about 20% over the previous model, achieving a maximum accuracy of 16nm.