ASML enters Japanese market with multiple system purchase from major IC maker

ASML has entered the Japanese market for semiconductor lithography systems with the sale of multiple deep UV and i-line Step & Scan tools to a major Japanese semiconductor manufacturer. Following an extensive evaluation of advanced imaging tools, the customer placed an order for ASML's PAS 5500/750ETM deep UV and PAS 5500/400CTM i-line scanners. The lithography systems will be used in volume production of logic and memory devices. Installations commence in December of this year. Nissei Sangyo, the sales agent for ASML, will provide field support to Japanese customers in combination with ASML's head office in Tokyo.

"We are very pleased and honored to announce this first order from a Japanese customer," said Don Crabtree, ASML's vice president of Asian sales. "ASML recognized early in our marketing activities that the requirements of this market are very different from others. We have been building our infrastructure and knowledge over a number of years in preparation to enter the market and provide the high level of support that customers there expect."

The PAS 5500/750E is the first KrF (248 nm wavelength) lithography system optimized for volume production of ICs with 130nm design rules. The Step & Scan tool features a deep UV lens with an unrivaled numerical aperture (0.70), the industry's highest partial coherence (0.88), the tightest overlay at less than 30 nm, and unsurpassed throughput of 120 200 mm wafers per hour. The PAS 5500/400C is the industry's first i-line Step & Scan system, capable of processing more than 114 200 mm wafers per hour. Specified for resolutions down to 280 nm, the system can be used with ASML's deep UV Step & Scan systems to provide cost-effective mix-and-match solutions for resolving less critical device features.