IMEC’s record 26 paper presentations to show SPIE attendees the newest advances in next-generation semiconductor microlithography

LEUVEN, BELGIUM – FEBRUARY 18, 2009 – IMEC technologists will present their
newest breakthroughs in advanced semiconductor lithography research and
development at next week’s SPIE (www.spie.org) Advanced Microlithography
Conference, to be held February 23 – 27 in San Jose, California.

IMEC will present a record 26 papers at the conference. The papers report
progress realized by IMEC and its world-leading core partners on EUV and
double patterning lithography targeting the sub-32nm node. The range of
lithography challenges are covered, including materials, manufacturing
process technology, metrology, inspection, process control, optical
microlithography, design for manufacturing, and alternative lithographic
processes.

“Stimulated by these record number of papers and with a concerted effort
from all actors involved in double patterning and EUV lithography research,
IMEC is determined to advance cost-effective double patterning towards the
32nm node and EUV full speed towards the (sub-)22nm node”, stated Kurt
Ronse, Advanced Lithography Program Director of IMEC. “SPIE provides the
prestigious forum for the industry’s technologists to share findings and
move semiconductor manufacturing forward to accomplish this common service.

Kurt Ronse continued, “As technologists, our goal is to enable engineers
and scientists to see their IC designs become reality through
manufacturing. Through IMEC’s collaborative research, we have achieved many
milestones to discuss with our international colleagues.”

IMEC’s papers are as follows:

Advances in Resist Materials and Processing Technology XXVI

1. EUV resist requirements, absorbance and acid yield, Roel Gronheid,
IMEC (Belgium); Carlos Fonseca, Tokyo Electron America, Inc. (United
States); Michael J. Leeson, Intel Corp. (United States); Jacob R. Adams,
Jeffrey R. Strahan, C. Grant Willson, The Univ. of Texas at Austin (United
States); Bruce W. Smith, Rochester Institute of Technology (United States)

2. Newly developed positive-tone resists for Posi/Posi double
patterning, Tsuyoshi Nakamura, Masaru Takeshita, Satoshi Maemori, Tokyo
Ohka Kogyo Co., Ltd. (Japan); Ryusuke Uchida, Tokyo Ohka Kogyo America,
Inc. (United States); Ryoichi Takasu, IMEC (Belgium); Katsumi Ohmori, Tokyo
Ohka Kogyo Co., Ltd. (Japan)

3. Analysis of the effect of point-of-use filtration on microbridging
defectivity, Jennifer Braggin, Entegris, Inc. (United States); Roel
Gronheid, Shaunee Y. Cheng, Dieter Van Den Heuvel, Sophie Bernard, Philippe
Foubert, IMEC (Belgium); Craig A. Rosslee, SOKUDO USA, LLC (United States)

4. Integration of improved develop process for topcoat-less immersion
resists, Craig A. Rosslee, SOKUDO USA, LLC (United States); Philippe J.
Leray, David Laidler, IMEC (Belgium); Masahiko Harumoto, Akihiro Hisai,
Michio Tanaka, SOKUDO Co., Ltd. (Japan); Glen Mori, SOKUDO USA, LLC (United
States)

5. EUV resist requirements: absorbance and acid yield, Roel Gronheid,
IMEC (Belgium); Carlos Fonseca, Tokyo Electron America, Inc. (United
States); Michael J. Leeson, Intel Corp. (United States); Jacob R. Adams,
Jeffrey R. Strahan, C. Grant Willson, The Univ. of Texas at Austin (United
States); Bruce W. Smith, Rochester Institute of Technology (United States)

6. Fluorinated polymethacrylates as highly sensitive nonchemically
amplified e-beam resists, Jeffrey R. Strahan, The Univ. of Texas at Austin
(United States); Jacob R. Adams, The Univ. of Texas at Austin (United
States) and IMEC (Belgium); Wei-Lun Jen, The Univ. of Texas at Austin
(United States); Anja Vanlennhove, NXP Semiconductors (Belgium); Colin C.
Neikirk, Timothy Rochelle, The Univ. of Texas at Austin (United States);
Roel Gronheid, IMEC (Belgium); C. Grant Willson, The Univ. of Texas at
Austin (United States)

7. Calibration of physical resist models: methods, usability, and
predictive power, Ulrich K. Klostermann, Thomas Mülders, Denis Ponomarenco,
Thomas Schmoeller, Synopsys GmbH (Germany); Jeroen Van de Kerkhove, Peter
De Bisschop, IMEC (Belgium).

8. Statistical simulation of photoresists at EUV and ArF, John J.
Biafore, Mark D. Smith, KLA-Tencor Texas (United States); Jim W. Thackeray,
Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials (United States); Stewart A. Robertson,
KLA-Tencor Texas (United States); Roel Gronheid, IMEC (Belgium)

9. Resist fundamentals for resolution, LER, and sensitivity (RLS)
performance tradeoffs and the relation to microbridging defects, Benjamin
M. Rathsack, Mark H. Somervell, Tokyo Electron America, Inc. (United
States); Kathleen R. Nafus, Shinichi Hatakeyama, Tokyo Electron Kyushu Ltd.
(Japan); Roel Gronheid, Sophie Bernard, IMEC (Belgium)

Metrology, Inspection, and Process Control for Microlithography XXIII

10. A method to determine dose to target without metrology ambiguity
using model-based data analysis, Koen D’havé, Anne-Laure Charley, David
Laidler, Shaunee Cheng, IMEC (Belgium)

11. A practical application of Multiple Prameters Profile
Characterization (MPPC) using CDSEM on production wafers using Hyper-NA
Lithography, Toru Ishimoto, Hitachi High-Technologies Corp. (Belgium);
Kohei Sekiguchi, Hitachi High-Technologies Europe GmbH (Germany); Norio
Hasegawa, Kenji Watanabe, Hitachi High-Technologies Corp. (Japan); David
Laidler, Shaunee Cheng, IMEC (Belgium)

12. Contour-quality assessment for OPC model calibration, Paul S.
Filitchkin, John L. Sturtevant, Ir Kusnadi, Thuy Do, Mentor Graphics Corp.
(United States); Peter De Bisschop, Jeroen Van de Kerkhove, IMEC (Belgium).

13. Track optimization and control for 32-nm node double patterning and
beyond, David Laidler, Philippe Foubert, Philippe J. Leray, Koen D’havé,
IMEC (Belgium); Craig A. Rosslee, Len Tedeschi, Glen Mori, SOKUDO USA, LLC
(United States)

14. Overlay metrology for double patterning processes, Philippe J.
Leray, David Laidler, Shaunee Cheng, IMEC (Belgium); Daniel Kandel, Michael
E. Adel, Anat Marchelli, Anna Golotsvan, KLATencor Israel (Israel); Mauro
Vasconi, Numonyx Srl (Italy); Bartlomiej W. Salski, QWED (Poland); Berta A.
Dinu, KLA-Tencor Israel (Israel)

15. Validation of CD-SEM etching residue evaluation technique for
MuGFET structures, Miki Isawa, Maki Tanaka, Tatsuya Maeda, Kenji Watanabe,
Hitachi High-Technologies Corp. (Japan); Tom Vandeweyer, Nadine Collarert,
Rita Rooyackers, IMEC (Belgium).

16. Diffraction-based overlay metrology: accuracy and performance on
multilevel measurements, Mauro Vasconi, Samuele Carrera, Flavio Paleari,
Pierluigi Rigolli, Laura Rozzoni, Ermes Severgnini, Numonyx Srl (Italy);
Philippe J. Leray, Shaunee Y. Cheng, IMEC (Belgium); Daniel Kandel, Michael
E. Adel, Berta A. Dinu, KLA-Tencor Corp. (Israel); Bartlomiej W. Salski,
QWED (Poland).

Optical Microlithography XXII

17. Extreme scaling of optical lithography: overview of process
integration issues (Keynote), Kurt G. Ronse, IMEC (Belgium)

18. Advances and challenges in dual-tone development process
optimization, Carlos Fonseca, Mark H. Somervell, Tokyo Electron America,
Inc. (United States); Sophie Bernard, Roel Gronheid, IMEC (Belgium); Steven
A. Scheer, Tokyo Electron America, Inc. (United States); Shinichi
Hatakeyama, Kathleen R. Nafus, Tokyo ElectronKyushu Ltd. (Japan)

19. Ultimate contact-hole resolution using immersion lithography with
line/space imaging, Vincent P. Truffert, Joost P. M. Bekaert, Andy Miller,
Mireille Maenhoudt, Alexey Milenin, IMEC (Belgium)

20. Comparison of double-patterning methods using Monte Carlo
simulation, Joshua S. Hooge, Tokyo Electron America, Inc. (United States);
Kathleen R. Nafus, Shinichi Hatakeyama, Tokyo Electron Kyushu Ltd. (Japan);
Shaunee Cheng, Philippe Foubert, Philippe J. Leray, IMEC (Belgium)

21. Modeling laser bandwidth for OPC applications, Christian D. Zuniga,
Kostas Adam, Michael Lam, Thuy Do, Mentor Graphics Corp. (United States);
Ivan Lalovic, Cymer, Inc. (United States); Peter De Bisschop, IMEC
(Belgium)

Alternative Lithographic Technologies

22. Compensation of overlay errors due to mask bending and non-flatness
for EUV masks, Manish Chandhok, Sanjay Goyal, Seh-Jin Park, Emily Y. Shu,
Guojing Zhang, Marilyn Kamna, Fabian C. Martinez, Intel Corp. (United
States); Alan M. Myers, Intel Corp. (Belgium); Gian F. Lorusso, Jan
Hermans, Eric Hendrickx, IMEC (Belgium)

23. Stability and imaging of the ASML EUV alpha demo tool, Jan Hermans,
Bart Baudemprez, Gian F. Lorusso, Eric Hendrickx, IMEC (Belgium); Andre Van
Dijk, ASML Netherlands B.V. (Netherlands); David Laidler, Rik M.
Jonckheere, Mieke Goethals, IMEC (Belgium).

24. Measurement and analysis of EUV photoresist related outgassing and
contamination, Ivan K. A. Pollentier, IMEC (Belgium); German Aksenov,
Katholieke Univ. Leuven (Belgium); Mieke Goethals, Roel Gronheid, Rik M.
Jonckheere, IMEC (Belgium); Michael J. Leeson, Intel Corp. (United States)

Design for Manufacturability through Design-Process Integration III

25. Application of pixel-based mask optimization technique for
high-transmission attenuated PSM, Kyohei Sakajiri, Alexander Trichkov, Yuri
Granik, Mentor Graphics Corp. (United States); Eric Hendrickx, Geert
Vandenberghe, IMEC (Belgium)

26. High-precision contouring from SEM image in 32-nm lithography and
beyond, John L. Sturtevant, Thuy Do, Ir Kusnadi, Mentor Graphics Corp.
(United States); Hiroyuki Shindo, Akiyuki Sugiyama, Hitoshi Komuro, Yutaka
Hojo, Ryoichi Matsuoka, Hitachi High-Technologies Corp. (Japan); Peter De
Bisschop, Jeroen Van de Kerkhove, IMEC (Belgium)

News release can be downloaded at:
http://www2.imec.be/imec_com/imec__08217_s-record-26-paper-presentations-to
-show-spie-attendees-the-newest-advances-in-next-generation-semiconductor-m
icrolithography.php?year=2009&month=02

About IMEC
IMEC is a world-leading independent research center in nanoelectronics and
nanotechnology. IMEC vzw is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, has a sister
company in the Netherlands, IMEC-NL, offices in the US, China and Taiwan,
and representatives in Japan. Its staff of more than 1650 people includes
about 600 industrial residents and guest researchers. In 2008, its revenue
(P&L) was estimated to EUR 264 million.
IMEC’s More Moore research aims at semiconductor scaling towards sub-32nm
nodes. With its More than Moore research, IMEC looks into technologies for
nomadic embedded systems, wireless autonomous transducer solutions,
biomedical electronics, photovoltaics, organic electronics and GaN power
electronics.

IMEC’s research bridges the gap between fundamental research at
universities and technology development in industry. Its unique balance of
processing and system know-how, intellectual property portfolio,
state-of-the-art infrastructure and its strong network worldwide position
IMEC as a key partner for shaping technologies for future systems.

Further information on IMEC can be found at www.imec.be.

Contacts:
Katrien Marent, Director of External Communications IMEC-
katrien.marent {at} imec(.)be – T: +32 16 28 18 80 – Mobile : +32 474 30 28 66

Barbara Kalkis, Maestro Marketing & PR, kkalkis {at} compuserve(.)com, T: 1 408
996 9975, M: 1 408 529 4210