Corning Incorporated, a global leader in glass, ceramics, and materials science, has introduced Corning® EXTREME ULE® Glass, a groundbreaking material designed to support the rapidly growing demand for advanced and intelligent technologies in the microchip industry. This new glass material is poised to help chipmakers improve the performance of photomasks—crucial tools used to create chip designs—thereby enabling the mass production of cutting-edge, cost-efficient microchips.
EXTREME ULE® Glass is engineered to endure the highest intensity extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, including the emerging High Numerical Aperture (High NA) EUV technology, which is quickly becoming an industry standard. EUV lithography allows manufacturers to use the most advanced photomasks to pattern and print intricate, small-scale chip designs. This process demands materials with exceptional thermal stability and uniformity to ensure consistent manufacturing performance.
“As the demands of integrated chipmaking rise with the increasing role of artificial intelligence, innovation in glass materials is more critical than ever,” said Claude Echahamian, Vice President and General Manager of Corning Advanced Optics. “EXTREME ULE® Glass strengthens Corning’s position in supporting Moore’s Law by enabling higher-powered EUV manufacturing and improving production yields.”
The thermal expansion properties of EXTREME ULE® Glass deliver exceptional consistency and performance across all photomasks. Its superior flatness and uniformity help reduce photomask waviness, minimizing unwanted variability in manufacturing and allowing for the application of advanced coatings.
This new material represents an evolution of Corning’s ULE® (Ultra-Low Expansion) glass portfolio, a titania-silicate glass known for its near-zero expansion characteristics, long used in EUV photomasks and lithography mirrors. Corning’s innovative glass-forming process is expected to reduce both energy consumption and waste in production, aligning with the company’s commitment to sustainability.
Corning will showcase EXTREME ULE® Glass and other innovative semiconductor materials at the SPIE Photomask Technology + Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography conference in Monterey, California, from September 30 to October 3.
For more details on Corning’s latest innovations in semiconductor manufacturing, visit www.corning.com/advanced-optics.
