Physics / mechanism
193 nm ArF excimer laser patterned through a refractive lens system onto a resist-coated wafer. Immersion variant interposes ultra-pure water (n ≈ 1.44) between final lens element and wafer, shrinking effective wavelength to ~134 nm and pushing numerical aperture to 1.35. Single-exposure resolution limit ~38 nm half-pitch; multi-patterning (SADP, SAQP, LELE) extends effective pitch to sub-10 nm at the cost of mask count and overlay budget. ASML NXT:2100i is current production workhorse; throughput ~275 wph. Installed base >3,000 tools globally. ArF-i remains the dominant patterning technology by wafer volume—EUV handles only a subset of critical layers.
Competitive landscape
| Approach | Resolution (single expose) | Wavelength / NA | Cost/layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| ArF Immersion (193i) | ~38 nm hp | 193 nm / 1.35 | Low–medium |
| EUV (13.5 nm) | ~13 nm hp | 13.5 nm / 0.33 | High |
| High-NA EUV | ~8 nm hp | 13.5 nm / 0.55 | Very high |
Companies using
Connected ideas
Sources
Frontier (open questions)
- To be added.