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Low Risk Solution for 32 nm Process Development Belmont, California – February 20, 2008 – Nikon Corporation has announced they will provide an immersion scanner for Double Patterning, based on the successful NSR-S610C platform, to their customers in the 4th quarter of 2008. By enhancing the performance of the mature NSR-S610C ArF immersion scanner to address the critical overlay requirements of Double Patterning, Nikon will deliver a low risk solution for Double Patterning development based on the proven Tandem Stage platform and Nikon proprietary Local Fill Technology. To satisfy ever-shrinking device requirements, immersion lithography is now well established as the leading edge technology for 45 nm volume manufacturing. At the 32 nm node, Double Patterning is the leading technology solution. In Double Patterning, one of the key challenges for the exposure tool is overlay accuracy. The final overlay accuracy is a combination of the two individual exposure overlay accuracies, dramatically reducing the overlay budget for each single exposure. The current expected budget is approximately 3 to 4 nm per exposure. 32 nm volume production is scheduled to begin between 2011 to 2013. To meet this schedule, customers will start development of Double Patterning technology in late 2008 and early 2009. By using the mature S610C platform as the base for this development, Nikon offers a low risk solution to allow customers to quickly begin their Double Patterning development. About Double Patterning: About Nikon Forward Looking Statements ### Contact: |