The Applied Tetra III Advanced Reticle Etch system is the most advanced mask etcher for 45nm production and beyond. As the semiconductor industry continues to extend the limits of current lithography technologies, Tetra III plays a critical role by enabling resolution enhancement techniques, such as optical proximity correction (OPC), and by offering the capability to etch the entire spectrum of photomask materials.

Tetra III is the only system that delivers the vital nanomanufacturing technology required for etching 45nm photomasks. It offers unique capabilities, such as the ability to control trench depths across quartz masks to <10Å and reduces critical dimension (CD) loss to <10nm—enabling the use of alternating phase shift mask (PSM) and aggressive optical proximity correction techniques in customers’ most critical device layers. The system offers zero defect, high productivity etch processes for chrome, quartz, molybdenum silicon oxynitride (MoSiON) and various new materials for next generation lithography applications.

Employing advanced key processes, the system can etch a wide variety of masks. This minimizes dependencies on process libraries, tool operation complexities, development cycle times, and expert users.  The world’s leading mask shops rely on the Tetra III Advanced Reticle Etch system to etch the most advanced masks with the highest yields to date.