Rapidus installs Japan's first AMSL EUV lithography machine
Japanese semiconductor manufacturer, Rapidus, has reached a milestone by installing Japan's first Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machine from ASML. This advanced technology is now part of Rapidus' Innovative Integration for Manufacturing (IIM-1) foundry, an advanced semiconductor fab under construction in Chitose, Hokkaido.
This is a significant milestone for Japan's semiconductor industry, marking the first time that an EUV lithography tool will be used for mass production in the country. In addition to the EUV lithography machinery, Rapidus will install additional complementary advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment, as well as fully automated material handling systems in its IIM-1 foundry to optimise 2nm generation gate-all-around (GAA) semiconductor manufacturing.
EUV lithography is one of the key technologies for realising 2nm semiconductors.
The EUV lithography equipment from ASML installed at the Rapidus IIM-1 foundry uses an advanced optical system with a reflective photomask and mirror lenses. It adopts a TWINSCAN platform that performs alignment and scanning on separate stages, realising increased productivity while responding to shrinking transistor sizes.
A pilot line will begin at Rapidus' IIM-1 in April 2025. A single-wafer process will be introduced for all manufacturing equipment, where Rapidus will proceed with the construction of a new semiconductor foundry service called Rapid and Unified Manufacturing Service (RUMS).
