ASML Holding announced the first shipment of its new TWINSCAN NXT:1980Di immersion lithography system to support increasingly demanding multiple-patterning performance requirements. Demonstrating 1.2 nanometer (nm) dedicated chuck overlay and better than 10 nm focus uniformity, the NXT:1980Di features new grid calibrations and hardware that enables chipmakers to achieve tighter process windows for next-generation process nodes. The NXT:1980Di also improves throughput by 10% to 275 wafers per hour, according to ASML.

"The NXT:1980Di is a major leap forward in overlay, focus control and productivity, providing a cost-effective solution for chipmakers to further extend immersion lithography, and ultimately Moore’s Law," said Bert Koek, Senior Vice President of DUV Product Marketing at ASML.

In future nodes, chipmakers are expected to use both immersion lithography and next-generation Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, creating additional overlay requirements beyond the standard node-to-node improvements. The NXT:1980Di is specifically designed to accommodate the mix-and-match use with EUV, achieving about 2 nm matched-machine overlay.

The NXT:1980Di is currently available. All TWINSCAN NXT:1970Ci systems can be upgraded in the field to the performance level of an NXT:1980Di. ASML also provides an upgrade path for previous TWINSCAN NXT models.