Lam Research is collaborating with Entegris and Gelest, of Mitsubishi Chemical Group, to develop extreme ultraviolet (EUV) dry resist lithography research and development for future device generations of logic and DRAM products.
The agreement will also be used to provide chip makers with access to precursor chemicals for Lam’s dry photoresist technology for EUV lithography to enable machine learning and artificial intelligence in mobile devices.
Having access to process chemicals in the supply chain is a critical component to EUV dry resist technology high-volume manufacturing, Lam said. The collaboration will broaden the ecosystem for dry resist technology as well as provide dual-source supply from semiconductor material vendors with provisions for continued delivery in all markets.
Additionally, the three companies will accelerate the development of future cost-effective EUV dry resist solutions for high numerical aperture (high-NA) EUV patterning. High-NA EUV is required for continued device scaling and advancement of chip technology in the coming decades. Dry resist provides the high etch resistance and tunable thickness scaling of deposition and development needed to support high-NA EUV’s reduced depth of focus.
“This collaboration brings together Lam’s dry resist expertise and cutting-edge solutions with material science capabilities and trusted supply channels from two industry precursor chemical leaders,” said Rick Gottscho, executive VP and CTO at Lam. “This important expansion of the dry resist ecosystem paves the way for exciting new levels of innovation and high-volume manufacturing with the technology.”
What is dry resist?
Lam’s dry photoresist technology extends the resolution, productivity and yield of EUV lithography. This helps to address challenges with the creation of future generations of DRAM and logic technologies.
Dry resist helps provide dose-to-size and dose-to-defectivity performance for higher EUV scanner productivity which leads to lower cost of ownership. The technology also consumes less energy and five to 10 times less raw materials than traditional resist processes.