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Leading-edge scanners in fabs worldwide have particularly high system utilization and require peak levels of system
throughput and availability. Laser gas exchanges typically occur daily on these systems (or every 100M pulses or less),
with each exchange lasting up to 20 minutes. This downtime has a direct negative effect on availability, and if it is
reduced, the productivity of the litho cell increases.
This paper will outline the immediate success fabs have experienced after equipping scanners with Cymer's Gas
Lifetime eXtension (GLXTM) technology, which increases scanner availability by extending the time between excimer
laser gas exchanges by a factor of more than 10. To date, more than 100 leading-edge scanners feature Cymer's GLX
technology, which has improved light source availability by more than 1.5 percent. Moreover, multiple chipmakers
report more than 2 percent improvement in litho cell productivity due to GLX, corresponding to 2000 wafers/month
increase for a 100,000 wafers/month fab. The increase in measured productivity is the leveraged benefit of reducing
process interruptions around the refill cycle
GLX technology extends the shot-based interval between gas refills to 1 billion pulses for Cymer's XLA light sources,
and provides excellent stability in key optical performance parameters, such as bandwidth and dose stability over the
entire gas life. This paper will provide extensive performance data during extended light source operation on litho cells
equipped with GLX technology, and multiple use scenarios will be examined, including usage at memory and logic fabs.
The paper will also discuss the performance of GLX2TM technology which further extends the maximum time between
light source gas exchanges from 1B pulses to 2B pulses, and reduces downtime associated with gas refills by a factor of
20. The stability and productivity benefits of this new technology can be realized under all light source utilization
scenarios. With GLX2, the refill interval at high utilization chipmakers is 3 weeks, and 4-8 weeks at lower utilization
customers. Metrics illustrating the success of each of these capabilities will be presented. The second-generation of GLX
technology was launched in July 2008 after chipmakers responded favorably to GLX performance metrics.
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