TSMC: EUV exceeds our needs

The current and expected future level of industrialization of EUV lithography is more than enough to satisfy TSMC’s needs, reports EE Times from the foundry’s annual Technology Symposium in Santa Clara, California. EUV “exceeds our needs”, said a senior executive according to the trade journal.

TSMC is currently using EUV on a few critical layers in its N7+ process, which is in an advanced state of development and scheduled to enter volume production in a few months. The recently introduced N6 half-node adds one EUV layer, N5 several more. N5 went into risk production earlier this year.

The EUV scanners at the Taiwanese foundry are fitted with stable 280 watt light sources, with an upgrade to 300 watt planned by the end of the year and to greater than 350 watt in 2020. Uptime climbed from 70 percent last year to 85 percent today, aiming for 90 percent next year. This coincides with the introduction of ASML’s NXE:3400C system (link in Dutch).