Lighting optics for semiconductor industry
The technology pioneer in optics
“It doesn’t get much mainstream coverage, but the technology behind the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems that are finally cranking up to volume production in chip fabrication facilities around the world ought to be regarded as one of the marvels of the modern industrial era.”
Photonics News, October 18, 2019 – optics.org
Design set-up of lighting optics for chip production
The quality requirements made on lighting optics for chip production are enormous. In order to produce EUV systems, which are on the market from prices starting at 100 million USD, the following is required for the design set-up:
- Precision down to the nanometer or even sub-nanometer range as far as individual surfaces are concerned
- Extreme stability and rigidity in order to achieve a high repeatability
- Adherence to a 6 Sigma quality process with regard to operation and specifications
During set-up of these high-precision lens assemblies, the individual lens elements are aligned both to their cell and to one another with the aid of centration testing. Validation of the image quality takes place through an MTF or wave front test.
The size of the optics makes it especially difficult to change between the different measuring systems. For this reason, the integration of measuring systems in an efficient working process is extremely important.
