E-SOL has supplied its extreme ultraviolet (EUV) pellicle transmittance measuring kit to a South Korean chipmaker, TheElec has learned.
The company has installed its EUV pellicle transmission and reflectance measurement system (EPTR) at the production line of the customer, people familiar with the matter said.
The setup of the system has been completed and it will go into operations within the month, they added.
Pellicles are used to protect the mask in the EUV lithography process.
EUV offers shorter wavelength light compared to ArF, but the downside is the light is prone to weaken.
This is why the pellicles used in EUV must have a transmittance of over 90% so that it doesn't weaken the light further before it reaches the wafer.
E-SOL’s EPTR uses EUV waves to test the pellicle’s transmittance and reflectance at high speed.
Prior to the development of such testing equipment, companies used other waves such as ArF to measure the transmittance of pellicle indirectly or would use research centers overseas for analysis of the pellicle.
E-SOL completed the development of EPTR during the fourth quarter last year and has been testing the kit with customers since then.
The company was founded in 2018 by ex-Samsung chip division executive Kim Byung-gook.
The firm is developing various equipment to test components used in EUV such as blank masks, pellicles and photoresists.
Earlier this year, it tested its new kit that measures the performance of the EUV photoresist.
