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Concept
Extreme ultraviolet lithography
Summary
Extreme ultraviolet lithography (also known as EUV or EUVL) is an optical lithography technology used in semiconductor device fabrication to make integrated circuits (ICs). It uses extreme ultraviolet (EUV) wavelengths near 13.5 nm, using a laser-pulsed tin (Sn) droplet plasma (Sn ions in the ionic states from Sn IX to Sn XIV give photon emission spectral peaks around 13.5 nm from 4p64dn - 4p54dn+1 + 4dn-14f ionic state transitions.), to produce a pattern by using a reflective photomask to expose a substrate covered by photoresist. It is currently applied only in the most advanced semiconductor device fabrication.
ASML Holding is the only company who produces and sells EUV systems for chip production, targeting 5 nm and 3 nm process nodes. At the 2019 International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), TSMC reported use of EUV for its 5 nm node in contact, via, metal line, and cut layers, where the cuts can be applied to fins, gates or metal lines. At IEDM 2020, TSMC reported its 5 nm node minimum metal pitch to be reduced 30% (to ~28 nm) from that of its 7 nm node, which was 40 nm. Samsung's 5 nm node is lithographically the same design rule as its 7 nm node, with a minimum metal pitch of 36 nm.
In the 1960s, visible light was used for IC-production, with wavelengths as small as 435 nm (mercury "g line"). Later UV light was used, with wavelength of at first 365nm (mercury "i line"), then excimer wavelengths first of 248 nm (krypton fluoride laser) and then 193 nm (argon fluoride laser), which was called deep UV. The next step, going even smaller, was dubbed Extreme UV or EUV. The EUV technology was considered impossible by many. EUV is absorbed by glass and even air, so instead of using lenses, as before, to focus the beams of light, mirrors in a vacuum would be needed and a reliable production of EUV was also problematic. Then leading producers of steppers Canon and Nikon stopped development, and some predicted the end of Moore's law.
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