TOKYOTokyo Electron (TEL) announced Tuesday that it will start accepting orders for the CLEAN TRACK LITHIUS i, a next generation resist coater/developer for immersion lithography, in July 2004, and the CLEAN TRACK LITHIUS e, a resist coater/developer with productivity enhancements for ArF, KrF, and i-line lithography applications, in August 2004.

TEL has developed these next generation processes in cooperation with exposure tool manufacturers and photoresist suppliers. By focusing on the immersion process, a promising next generation technology, and incorporating it into TEL's cutting-edge coater/developer with a proven high process performance record, TEL has produced the CLEAN TRACK LITHIUS i.

Data from resist coater/developers at TEL's customers worldwide led to the concept of optimized hardware for each lithography process, ArF immersion, ArF, KrF, and i-line. Also, with the development of new cutting-edge features, processing has become even more precise. TEL has focused on productivity improvements that contribute to reduced CoO (Cost of Ownership) and lead to higher cost savings.

The CLEAN TRACK LITHIUS is designed for processing beyond the 45nm process node. The LITHIUS i and LITHIUS e together provide a better solution to various customer needs in each lithography application. In addition, LITHIUS's performance, ease-of-operations, technology extendibility, productivity, and costs are well balanced.

By leveraging TEL's leading development capabilities and experience cultivated through the market-dominating CLEAN TRACK ACT^TM series, the LITHIUS utilizes TEL's latest accomplishments in research and development, and advanced functionality. The system maintains processing stability with less dependence on the user's maintenance skills and provides greater flexibility to address high throughput with multiple block configurations, as well as integration of macro defect inspection and critical dimension metrology modules.

The Ingenio™ TL CT controller has enhanced future capability for e-Manufacturing in order to maximize the productivity of IC semiconductor factories. In addition, adding automatic adjustment functions and engineering support tools to each module in the system has made it possible to reduce personnel working hours, improve machine reliability, and reduce performance variations.



*CLEAN TRACK, CLEAN TRACK ACT, and LITHIUS are trademarks of Tokyo Electron Limited.