Cymer Shrinks Chip Circuitry

Bruce V. Bigelow7/13/09

In a major step toward making microcircuits just 10-nanometers apart, San Diego’s Cymer (NASDAQ: CYMI) says it has shipped its first laser-produced plasma (LPP) extreme ultraviolet laser machine to ASML in The Netherlands. Cymer says ASML will use the machine in development and testing of its next generation extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography scanners. Cymer says EUV represents a new method of lithography that uses a laser light source with a wavelength that is 1/15th of the current standard—enabling semiconductors to squeeze more microcircuitry on each silicon wafer.

Bruce V. Bigelow is the editor of Xconomy San Diego. You can e-mail him at bbigelow@xconomy.com or call (619) 669-8788