EUV optics.

The optics giant Carl Zeiss is to lead a new project to improve the resolution of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) optics well beyond what will be possible with the first generation of production systems.

ASML’s first EUV lithography tools, scheduled to ship to customers early next year and go into full semiconductor wafer production in 2014, will be able to manufacture structures as small as 20 nm.

But the semiconductor industry's roadmap calls for even smaller structures than that in the future, and the objective of the Zeiss-led project is to extend EUV resolution to just 14 nm.

Funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the three-year, €7 million “ETIK” project is focused on the optical elements of EUV systems, including a new design for the surface of the mirrors used in the projection lens.

To read more: http://optics.org/news/3/8/2