Immersion lithography places liquid between the lens and the silicon wafer, enabling chipmakers to produce smaller features while using light with the same wavelength.

Using an immersion fluid between the wafer and the lens has two benefits. First, it enhances depth of focus (DOF) for a given numerical aperture. Second, immersion allows lens designs with numerical apertures significantly larger than 1.0, therefore allowing improved resolution.

The TWINSCAN system measures the wafer in a dry position before exposing it wet. Applying HydroLith immersion technology to the TWINSCAN platform adds the benefits of immersion lithography while maintaining superior TWINSCAN measurement accuracy and industry leading throughput.

ASML is the worldwide leader in immersion-enabled lithography systems.