Nikon Precision | Global Site


	Litho Enhancement Paks Individual Upgrades

Nikon takes great pride in creating some of the most reliable steppers and scanners in the world. But part of being the best is always pushing to be better. Therefore, we continue to offer many new and innovative individual upgrades designed to:

• Boost throughput and yield
• Enhance performance baselines
• Decrease maintenance tasks and time
• Increase uptime

Many of these upgrades are compatible with various Nikon model types to provide exciting potential for continuous improvements across your fab.

Additional information is available upon request. For the U.S., contact accountsupport@nikon.com. For Europe, contact: accountsupport@npeurope.com.

Continuous DOF Expansion Procedure - CDP for S203 Scanners and Beyond	Significantly expands the depth of focus for contact hole processes without negatively impacting NSR throughput.
Contrast Focus – for SF155 Steppers & SX08 Scanners and Beyond	Used for characterization of best focus, tilts, TFD, and astigmatism for leading-edge scanners and steppers. CF provides excellent sensitivity and repeatability, and significantly reduces the time required for focus characterization.
Dynamic Job Sequence – DJS for SF150 Steppers and Beyond & SX08 Scanners and Beyond	Enhances fab efficiency by enabling the NSR to automatically run a defined sequence of multiple jobs anytime that a previously created DJS recipe is selected.
Evaluation EGA – for SF150 Steppers and Beyond & SX08 Scanners and Beyond	Streamlines alignment optimization by enabling the NSR to evaluate various alignment conditions by executing multiple EGA steps in parallel - each with different conditions, and then enables result comparison to process of record (POR) alignment strategy
Exposure Dose Change for Specific Shot (or Shot-by-Shot Exposure Condition Setting) for S203 Scanners and Beyond	Enables flexible definition of the exposure parameters for up to 255 individual shots per process program.
Grid Compensation for Matching - GCM for S203 Scanners and Beyond & SF Systems	Minimizes shot placement errors between layers exposed on NSRs as well as other scanner types, thereby delivering enhanced overlay.
Illumination Enhancement Package for S202, S203 and S204 Scanners	Minimizes the effects of environmental contamination on DUV systems and ensures optimal system performance for the longest period of time possible.
Infrared Aberration Control – IAC for S308/S310/S609/S610 Scanners	IAC optimizes heat management across the lens to minimize RET-induced thermal aberrations. This optimizes NSR astigmatism performance and stability.
Job Cascade for i11 Steppers and Beyond & S203 Scanners and Beyond	Enables simultaneous execution of lot preparation functions, reducing the time between Jobs and thereby improving NSR productivity and efficiency.
Lens Flare Measurement – for SX08 Scanners and Beyond	Utilizes on-board systems to directly measure projection lens flare by evaluating reticle marks projected on the wafer stage. Reduces time and enhances productivity by eliminating wafer metrology.
Linked Litho – for SF100 Steppers and Beyond & SX05 Scanners and Beyond	Linked Litho is a wafer information sharing system for STS (SEMI E90)-compliant C/D and NSR equipment that manages wafer processing using a substrate ID shared by the track and NSR. This system eliminates the risk of incorrect substrate processing.
Lithography Equipment Engineering System - LEES for i11 Steppers and Beyond & S203 Scanners and Beyond	Improves NSR availability and productivity, while also reducing rework. LEES collects data from the NSRs and stores it in a database with the flexibility to trend and monitor system parameters, users can also set control limits to trigger alerts.
Multiple Exposure Self-Measurement Program - MX-SMP for S203 - SX07 Scanners	Enables optical measurement of CDs on the NSR itself. Provides fast measurements, high precision and is traceable to CD-SEM metrology. Use to evaluate best focus, tilts, TFD, process and dose monitoring, etc.
NEST for Models 5-10	PC-based upgrade solution that replaces the obsolete PDP and provides significant productivity and efficiency enhancements, as well as delivers added functionalities.
NEST-σ - for Model 14/S202 NSRs and Beyond	Windows-based upgrade solution that replaces the NSR AlphaStation, DMCC, and DDBOX controllers and improves system performance while delivering new applications to enhance reliability and efficiency. Also enables remote access from outside the fab
NEST-V for Models 11,12, 4425, S201 & PPDS	Windows-based upgrade solution that replaces the NSR VAX controllers and improves productivity while delivering new applications to enhance reliability and efficiency. Also enables remote access from outside the fab.
Optimized Dose Control – ODC for S308/S310/S609/S610 Scanners	ODC improves CD uniformity within shots by using dose correction thru-scan. While ODC will compensate for CD variation distribution across the wafer, its IFDO capabilities (intra-field dose optimization) will compensate for more fine variation common for all shots.
Overlay Evaluation Program - OLEV for i14 Steppers and Beyond & S203 Scanners and Beyond	Enables vital alignment and overlay analysis/optimization on an off-line PC, providing optimum NSR productivity while delivering enhanced overlay accuracy and increased yield.
Polarization Control - POLANO for S308/S310 Scanners and Immersion Systems	Provides enhanced image contrast at ultra-high NAs delivering maximum process latitude, enhanced DOF and LWR. POLANO uses the polarized beam efficiently, controlling the polarization direction without a loss of power.
Process Program Distribution System - PPDS for i11 Steppers and Beyond & S203 Scanners and Beyond	Enables convenient off-line NSR program manipulation and management including creation, edit and distribution functions. Successfully eliminates costly use of NSR machine time for programming.
Remote Control Station Link – RCS-Link for SF120 Steppers and Beyond & SX05 Scanners and Beyond	Enables one operator to control up to twelve NSRs from a single location, minimizing delays incurred when users move from system to system. Reduces manpower requirements by enabling a single user to control multiple tools.
Setting Information Management System – SIMS for SF150 Steppers and Beyond & SX08 Scanners and Beyond	Provides fast and easy comparisons of vital tool/recipe parameters for MCSW-based NSRs, and then automatically notifies the user of potential issues.
Wafer Holder Scanning Particle Check – for SX05 Scanners and Beyond	Enhances fab productivity and efficiency by providing a stream-lined method to identify wafer holder particles and their locations.