Veeco IBD System Achieves Breakthrough Defect Reduction in EUV Mask Blanks

PLAINVIEW, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO) announced today that SEMATECH, a global semiconductor consortium that conducts research and development to advance chip manufacturing, has recently achieved a major breakthrough using Veeco’s NEXUS® Low Defect Density Ion Beam Deposition (LDD IBD) System to significantly reduce defects from multi-layer deposition of mask blanks used for extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL).

Frank Goodwin, Manager of SEMATECH’s Mask Blank Defect Reduction program, stated, “EUVL requires a low defect density reflective mask blank, which is considered to be one of the top two critical technology gaps for commercialization of the technology. Veeco’s world-class IBD technology was a major catalyst in helping us to demonstrate low defect levels for the deposition of critical films, and meet the 22 nanometer defect requirements for EUV mask blanks.”

Vivek Vohra, Veeco’s Vice President and General Manager, Veeco Ion Beam Equipment, commented, “Veeco's NEXUS LDD IBD System has continuously demonstrated the ability to provide low defect density deposition and precise control, which are required to accelerate the development of mask blanks used for extreme ultraviolet EUV, bringing that technology a step closer to high-volume manufacturing. We congratulate the research team at SEMATECH for reaching this milestone and for achieving it on our production-proven system.”

Ion beam deposition tools are used in the fabrication of EUV masks. The nanometer-scale patterns on masks are projected onto a semiconductor wafer to define a chip. A single mask may be used to print over 6 million chips during its life, requiring strict mask defect control. Advanced-technology EUV masks are used to define chips with smaller geometries, which results in improved power and performance as required for an increasing number of mobile devices. Veeco's IBD products lead the industry in high film quality, featuring extremely low particulate deposition and precise control of optical properties for single or multi-layer processes, two critical factors for producing advanced EUV photomasks.

About Veeco

Veeco’s process equipment solutions enable the manufacture of LEDs, power electronics, hard drives, MEMS and wireless chips. We are the market leader in MOCVD, MBE, Ion Beam and other advanced thin film process technologies. Our high performance systems drive innovation in energy efficiency, consumer electronics and network storage and allow our customers to maximize productivity and achieve lower cost of ownership. For information on our company, products and worldwide service and support, please visit www.veeco.com.

About SEMATECH

SEMATECH, the international consortium of leading semiconductor device, equipment, and materials manufacturers, this year celebrates 25 years of excellence in accelerating the commercialization of technology innovations into manufacturing solutions. Through our unwavering commitment to foster collaboration across the nanoelectronics industry, we help our members and partners address critical industry transitions, drive technical consensus, pull research into the industry mainstream, improve manufacturing productivity, and reduce risk and time to market. Information about SEMATECH can be found at www.sematech.org.

To the extent that this news release discusses expectations or otherwise makes statements about the future, such statements are forward-looking and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. These factors include the risks discussed in the Business Description and Management's Discussion and Analysis sections of Veeco's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011 and in our subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and press releases .Veeco does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances after the date of such statements.