사진 확대
Samsung Electronics is working with ASML, the world’s largest semiconductor lithography equipment maker, to develop 12-inch photomasks, replacing the 6-inch format that has been the industry standard for decades. As circuits become increasingly complex, particularly in artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors, the company believes that masks must also be enlarged to maximize the performance of next-generation High-NA EUV lithography systems.
Samsung Electronics plans to use 12-inch masks together with High-NA EUV lithography systems to improve the productivity of ultra-fine semiconductor manufacturing at 1.4 nanometers (nm; one-billionth of a meter) or below. It also plans to become the first company in the world to apply High-NA EUV lithography systems to mass production of DRAM in 2028.
Samsung Electronics announced on the 8th that it would join the large-mask consortium led by ASML and begin jointly developing next-generation 12-inch photomasks. The consortium is a consultative body working to convert the 6-inch photomasks currently used in semiconductor lithography processes to 12-inch masks. It aims to establish a large-mask ecosystem through joint research and standards development. With photomasks, the ability to accurately transfer increasingly fine and complex circuits onto wafers determines semiconductor performance and yield. The semiconductor industry has used 6-inch photomasks for decades.
However, the growing complexity of circuits in advanced chips, including AI semiconductors, is exposing the limitations of the existing format. Because it is difficult to print one large circuit at once, the circuit must be divided into multiple sections, exposed separately, and then reconnected through a process known as stitching. Errors during the connection process require rework and increase production time and manufacturing costs. The introduction of High-NA EUV lithography systems has further increased the need for larger masks. Although High-NA EUV can print much finer circuits than conventional EUV, its narrower exposure field means that, when masks of the same size are used, the exposure area is reduced to roughly half.
The 12-inch photomask is intended to address this limitation. Enlarging the mask makes it possible to print a wider circuit area at once while maintaining the precision of High-NA EUV. This reduces the need to divide circuits and reconnect them, lowering the likelihood of defects and rework while cutting production time and manufacturing costs. High-NA EUV is also considered a key technology for ultra-fine processes at 1.4 nanometers or below. Its numerical aperture (NA), which determines how finely circuits can be printed, rises from 0.33 for conventional EUV to 0.55, enabling the implementation of finer circuits.
After bringing in the first High-NA EUV lithography system in South Korea in March last year, Samsung Electronics is now participating in the establishment of a 12-inch mask ecosystem. Changing semiconductor manufacturing standards requires not only masks but also lithography and inspection equipment, materials, and other parts of the upstream and downstream supply chain to adapt to the new format. Samsung Electronics’ participation is therefore expected to accelerate the transition to the new standard.
Samsung Electronics will also apply High-NA EUV to advanced memory products. In cooperation with ASML, it plans to introduce High-NA EUV to mass-produced DRAM products in 2028, becoming the first company in the world to do so, and verify the process conditions, yield, and productivity.
Photomask
A kind of “original template” containing a semiconductor circuit pattern. When an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography system shines light, the fine circuit pattern on the mask is transferred onto the wafer.
[Reporter Sora Park]
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.