Canon 5nm Technology

Canon announced  the launch of its FPA-1200NZ2C nanoimprint semiconductor manufacturing machine which is an alternative to EUV litho for making 5nm IC circuitry.

In contrast to EUV, nanoimprint technology creates circuitry by pressing a mask imprinted with the circuit pattern on the resist on the wafer like a stamp. Because its circuit pattern transfer process does not go through an optical mechanism, fine circuit patterns on the mask can be faithfully reproduced on the wafer.

Thus, complex two- or three-dimensional circuit patterns can be formed in a single imprint, which may reduce the cost of ownership.

Wafer throughput is not revealed but three years ago a Canon paper said it was 90 wafers oer hour.

An FPA-1200NZ2C in operation.Canon’s NIL technology enables patterning with a minimum linewidth of 14 nm^{2 –} equivalent to the 5-nm-node³ required to produce most advanced logic semiconductors which are currently available.Furthermore, with further improvement of mask technology, NIL is expected to enable circuit patterning with a minimum linewidth of 10 nm, which corresponds to 2-nm-node.

The new product employs newly developed environment control technology that suppresses the contamination with fine particles in the equipment.

This enables high-precision alignment which is necessary for the manufacture of semiconductors with an increasing number of layers and the reduction of defects due to fine particles, and enables the formation of fine and complex circuits, contributing to the manufacture of cutting-edge semiconductor devices.

Since the new product does not require a light source with a special wavelength for fine circuit, it can reduce power consumption significantly compared to the photolithography equipment for currently available most advanced logic semiconductors (5-nm-node with 15 nm linewidth), thereby contributing to CO₂ reduction.