As a result, Sematech plans to set up a new consortium that would fund and propel the development of EUV mask inspection gear. In the interim, Sematech hopes to devise ''bridge tools'' in EUV mask inspection, but there are still some serious challenges in the arena.

So far, not one fab tool vendor has ''committed'' its resources for the development of select but critical EUV mask inspection gear, said Bryan Rice, program manager for EUV at Sematech (Albany, N.Y.). The fab tool industry is ''reluctant to support the technology,'' Rice said during a presentation.

The mask gear, along with the EUV scanners themselves, are part of an effort to enable an ''EUV pilot line'' by 2011, according to Sematech. Intel, Samsung, Toshiba and others are pushing hard to put EUV into production, but that target date could be unrealistic.

As reported, ASML Holding NV and Nikon Corp. are separately developing EUV scanners. The two bitter rivals are rushing to develop ''pre-production'' EUV tools by the first part of 2010 or earlier.

But a lack of mask inspection gear for EUV lithography threatens the future viability of EUV in the market, warned a top technologist at Intel Corp. earlier this year.

To enable EUV in mass production fabs, IC makers must get their hands on defect-free photomasks. Today's EUV masks have 1 defect per cm² at 18-nm. The ultimate goal is to devise EUV masks with 0.003 defects per cm² at 18-nm.

In other words, there is a ''25X gap'' in terms of enabling defect-free masks for EUV pilot production and a ''100X gap'' for EUV fab production, Rice said.

The other trouble is that the industry is far behind in the development and funding of EUV-based inspection tools, mask blank inspection gear and fab reticle machines, Intel warned.

In terms of R&D, EUV inspection gear is projected to cost $150 million, blank inspection gear is about $50 million and fab reticle machines is $10 million, the chip giant warned.

Intel is pushing other chip makers and consortiums like Sematech to drive tool development. Right now, tool makers face a major downturn and R&D dollars remain scarce.