Nikon to Start to Take Orders for NSR-S630D, the Newest ArF Immersion Scanner

Super High Accuracy and Super High Throughput with Improved Overlay Accuracy and Productivity

February 20, 2014

Nikon Corporation (Makoto Kimura, President, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo) announced it is starting to take orders for its newest ArF immersion scanner, "NSR-S630D." The NSR-S630D was developed for high-volume manufacturing of the process on the order of 10 nm node (capable of handling multiple patterning^*1) by further enhancing the accuracy and productivity of the NSR-S622D, which applies the proven Streamlign Platform with a reputation for high accuracy and productivity. In addition to further improving overlay accuracy, which is critical in multiple patterning, the NSR-S630D has also successfully increased its throughput to meet customers' demand for stable production.

*1Multiple patterning:
A circuit pattern is divided into two or more patterns with a feature density low enough to be printed with an existing immersion lithography system, which are then combined to ultimately render a high feature density.

Overview

Product Name	NSR-S630D, ArF Immersion Scanner
Orders Acceptance Date	Starting April 2014

Development Background

VLSI chips, the backbone of the IT revolution, continue to shrink and get denser. The semiconductor industry is transitioning to high-volume manufacturing of 10-nm generation process devices and development of 7-nm generation process devices. In the photolithography field, the multiple patterning technology using ArF immersion lithography systems continues to be considered promising for further shrinking of design rules, requiring high overlay accuracy and high throughput.
NSR-S630D realizes a further improved Mix and Match Overlay accuracy (MMO)^*2 concurrently with a high throughput by enhancing the projection lens performance, adopting encoders for reticle stage position measurements and improving the thermal control/air handling systems. This enables super high accuracy of below 2.5 nm MMO and extremely high productivity of more than 250wph throughput (96 shots), contributing to stable volume manufacturing at chip makers' cutting edge production lines.

*2MMO (Mix and Match Overlay): overlay accuracy among multiple identical scanners

Main Characteristics of the Streamlign Platform

1.Bird's Eye Control: The measurement system that markedly improves overlay accuracy

Use of 2D encoders for reticle stage position measurements in conjunction with the already implemented hybrid system that uses both encoders and interferometers for wafer stage position measurements delivers measurements of the stages that are insensitive to air fluctuations. This leads to substantially improved overlay accuracy.

2.Stream Alignment: New measurement technology that realizes a dramatic improvement in throughput

By increasing the number of Field Image Alignment (FIA) microscopes to five (Five-Eye FIA)^*3, alignment measurements can be performed in a shorter period of time.
Five-Eye FIA minimizes throughput loss even when multiple points, nearly equal to the entire amount of shots, have to be measured.

*3Five-Eye FIA: The number of alignment microscopes was increased from the conventional one to 5 (multiple lens type).

3.Modular² Structure: New modular structure for improved maintainability

With its hierarchicalized module, installation time at a customer site is reduced and parts replacement is simplified. This substantially improves maintainability.

NSR-S630D, Main Performance Features

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Resolution	≤38 nm
NA	1.35
Light source	ArF excimer laser (193 nm)
Reduction magnification	¼
Maximum exposure area	26 x 33 mm
Overlay accuracy (M+3σ) SMO^*	≤1.7 nm
Overlay accuracy (M+3σ) MMO^*	≤2.5 nm
Throughput (300 mm wafer) 96 shots	≥250 wph

*SMO (Single Machine Overlay) : machine-to-self overlay accuracy (i.e., NSR-S630D#1 to NSR-S630D#1)
*MMO (Mix and Match Overlay) : machine-to-machine overlay accuracy (i.e., NSR-S630D#1 to NSR-S630D#2)