SCREEN and IBM Sign Agreement for Next-Generation EUV Lithography Cleaning Process Development

Agreement builds on more than a decade of collaboration between the two companies

In recent years, the adoption of EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet) lithography has been accelerating to meet the growing demand for miniaturization in advanced semiconductor manufacturing processes. In particular, High NA (High Numerical Aperture) EUV, a next-generation exposure technology, is gaining attention as an essential technology beyond the 2nm node. In these advanced EUV exposure processes, even minute particles or scratches on the wafer—previously considered negligible—can negatively impact patterning performance, making the cleaning process more critical than ever.

To address these challenges, the two companies have signed an agreement to focus on developing cleaning technologies for High NA EUV. The collaboration combines IBM’s expertise in semiconductor process integration and SCREEN’s leading-edge wafer cleaning tools.

"High NA EUV technology is critical as we look to develop smaller, more powerful semiconductors for the age of AI,” said Mukesh Khare, GM of IBM Semiconductors and VP of Hybrid Cloud, IBM. “We are thrilled to expand our collaboration with SCREEN to ensure that IBM and our ecosystem partners can benefit from this technology innovation.”

"SCREEN is excited to deepen our collaboration with IBM to develop cleaning technologies that meet the stringent demands of High NA EUV lithography. By combining SCREEN precision cleaning expertise with IBM’s full stack development flow, we aim to deliver robust solutions that enable our customers to realize the potential of sub-2nm manufacturing," said Akihiko Okamoto, Representative Director and President of SCREEN Semiconductor Solutions.

Through this joint development agreement, IBM and SCREEN will work to further accelerate the development of cleaning technologies for advanced semiconductor manufacturing using High NA EUV lithography and to provide solutions that maximize added value for device manufacturers.

Source: IBM media announcement