THE NEXT STEP: A technician in International Sematech's Resist Test Center readies wafers for the 157-nm Exitech Microstepper. The system produces features down to 100 nm and below. PHOTO COURTESY OF INTL. SEMATECH

The MS-13 will use a dense-plasma-focus discharge source from San Diego–based Cymer. The source has a 13.5-nm wavelength and an EUV imaging lens with a numerical aperture of 0.3. A team from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory, and Carl Zeiss Semiconductor Manufacturing Technologies built the lens. Sematech says the mirrors of the 0.3-NA lens will be polished to 0.2 nm, or the smoothness of a single atom. Coated with specially made reflective layers, the lens will be aligned with a wavefront error of less than 1 nm, according to the consortium.

Since April 2000, the Sematech center has been using Exitech's MS-157 Microstepper for 157-nm photoresist development. The system processes an average of 50 wafers and 5 to 15 photoresist formulations per day, over the course of two shifts.

Malcolm Gower, chairman and technical director of Exitech, says the developmental program will enable the semiconductor industry to meet manufacturing requirements for 16-Gb memory and 6-GHz chips with linewidths down to 45–65 nm.