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resistion
So all this money went to buy Cymer instead? Actually not enough, even?
peter.clarke
The main issue is that at the 300-mm transition the chipmakers pressured the ...
ASML funding plan targets proposed 2018 EUV machine
Peter Clarke
7/10/2012 12:07 PM EDT
LONDON – An innovative equity-plus-research funding scheme assembled by lithography tool vendor ASML Holding NV (Veldhoven, The Netherlands) to pay for extreme ultra violet R&D and the transition to 450-mm diameter wafer technologies, is being put in place to produce EUV results in 2018, the company has said. The scheme will have no impact on the current generation of EUV machine, which is already considered to be late to market.
The funding project is also being applied to creating ArF, ArF immersion and KrF lithography systems capable of handling 450-mm diameter wafers, which could arrive sooner than 2018.
ASML is trying to raise 1.38 billion euro (about $1.7 billion) to fund its next phase of EUV lithography and 450-mm diameter wafer development. To help persuade its customers to pay for the R&D ASML is offering the chance to buy up to a 25 percent stake in the company. Intel has signed up to take a 15 percent stake. ASML has said it is still negotiating with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. over taking up to a 10 percent stake in the company.
When asked how Intel's support would change ASML's EUV roadmap Eric Meurice, CEO, told analysts in a conference call that" "The current EUV program, for which we have committed to customers – and to our shareholders – that we'll be in production in 2014, that's the current machine called the 3300 [NXE:3300] will not be impacted at all. We think we will be there. We will have the specification. We don't need additional funding to succeed there."
Meurice continued: "The additional funding, however, will help us in version expected in 2018, which is a significant undertaking; it has a bigger lens, it has a bigger need for higher power and is a significant challenge in overlay and it is going to be 300- and 450-mm compatible. That's a big project for 2018. This is the one we want to secure with this additional funding."
Peter Wennink, CFO of ASML, told the analysts that because the EUV machines have been designed to be capable of upgrading to 450-mm wafers most of the 450-mm development spending would be on preparing 450-mm capable lithography systems based on ArF and KrF. No timetable was given for when these machines would be made available.
Related links and articles:
Intel buys stake in ASML to boost 450-mm, EUV R&D
ASML in talks with Samsung, TSMC on equity stakes
First 450-mm fabs to ramp in 2017, says analyst
EUV startup in talks with ASML, seeks $5 million
ASML says EUV on track for 2013
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peter.clarke
7/10/2012 1:19 PM EDT
Reading between the lines on this one it looks lik there is going to a hiatus in Moore's Law while Intel, ASML and others reapply themselves to this.
It also looks like the transition to 450-mm may be easier to implement than the one to EUV, which has got Intel thinking.
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docdivakar
7/10/2012 3:31 PM EDT
@peter.clarke: EUV is plagued with so many delays for 300mm so are you implying 450-mm comes before EUV? I thought EUV is going to win that race...
MP Divakar
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designrulez
7/10/2012 2:14 PM EDT
I think for the greater good of the industry they should focus on 450mm Euv thats when the real cost cutting comes in . Smart Move by ASML..
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Chipguy1
7/10/2012 2:42 PM EDT
Moore's law is about doubling the number of transistors AND the new chip still costing the same (I.e. the cost per transistor goes down). What the industry is finding is Moore's Law is breaking down due to lithography cost (tools used to print the chips way too expensive). Next generation EUV steppers cost ~$150M and can only process 10 wafers per hour versus expected 160.
Intel needs to move its business model off Moore's law. Intel is spending more and more on a new silicon technology that is delivering less and less.
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lfascian
7/10/2012 5:03 PM EDT
Only ASML has the edge technologies in lithography. ASML is still investing a lot in human and finacial resources in EUV. If Intel, Samsung and TSMC want 450mm fab, they have to involve .... push ASML to do it.
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resistion
7/10/2012 8:14 PM EDT
450mm was already considered close to hell freezing over, and it's already ahead of EUV. This might be a sign of realization by the industry. And the earliest production date has slipped to 2014, another sign of realization.
Uncertainty cannot help lower cost. Delay is the greatest cost of all. It may be time to really look at other options. So what happened to these other options like DSA, imprint, maskless, etc.?
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Diogenes53
7/10/2012 10:25 PM EDT
Intel must double-down on 450mm because growing millimeters of silicon diameter is cheaper and far more predictable than reducing electromagnetic wavelengths to X-ray range. Presumably, ASML can build a 450mm stage (other, much smaller companies are) with greater success than the SXPL machine they are trying to build. Meanwhile, they sell multiple profitable immersion tools for optical multi patterning.
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Diogenes53
7/10/2012 10:27 PM EDT
P.S. The need for Intel/Samsung/TSMC money signals how far off SXPL really is.
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designrulez
7/11/2012 12:36 AM EDT
They just don't want to foot the bill themselves, they've been through it in the past.. 450 was going to be done on anyway, Intc just paid to get it done sooner..
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sprite0022
7/11/2012 1:22 AM EDT
I can smell the desperation of intel, while competitors is chasing closer from everywhere, there is only one direction, up. and there is only sky there and it don't have a wing...
they better invest in CERN as well, they could offer quark level tech for them.
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RogerMel
7/11/2012 1:38 AM EDT
sprite0022 what are you smoking?
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Mark1980
7/11/2012 3:55 PM EDT
I don`t see samsung joining, simply bcoz IBM, GLOFO and the rest will not be happy and its not certain ASML will produce the results, if ASML fail, thIeR shares will tank and the money invested will be lost..
I think TSMC will join (best case scenario)
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gnipho
7/12/2012 8:40 AM EDT
Moore's law is not so much about getting more transistors on a wafer by making them smaller, it's basically about reducing the cost per transistor.
Making transistors smaller using EUV is at the moment too expensive so reducing the cost per transistor by moving to 450nm is the logic way to go and meet Moore's law.
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DrQuine
7/15/2012 5:49 PM EDT
Hmm. If a high return on investment were assured, the company would be funding it themselves. Seeking to spread the risk among their customers suggests a level of elevated business risk.
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peter.clarke
7/16/2012 5:14 AM EDT
The main issue is that at the 300-mm transition the chipmakers pressured the equipment makers to take on all the risk saying that the first companies to offer 300-mm versions in various equipment categories would "clean up" and get lets of orders.
The the 300-mm transition stalled (I forget why, but i think there was some economic crash or others) and was long and drawn out. The second movers were able to catch up and a lot of equipment makers got burned.
This time around we are down to close to monopoly suppliers...ASML, Applied Materials ...and they are starting to tell customers.....you want this work doing...you got to foot the bill...up front....and sign some purchase orders.
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resistion
11/2/2012 10:51 AM EDT
So all this money went to buy Cymer instead? Actually not enough, even?
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