OREANDA-NEWS. Merck, a leading science and technology company, joins SPIE Advanced Lithography 2016 under its US business EMD Performance Materials after the successful integration of AZ Electronic Materials in May 2014. The annually held conference is taking place at the San Jose Marriott and San Jose Convention Centre in USA from February 21-25, 2016.

This year, Merck is bringing new advancement in materials solutions for next generation lithography, such as Directed Self-assembly (DSA) and Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) technologies. The company's strong polymer synthesis capability, using anionic polymerization techniques combined with accumulated process and formulation expertise, has led to a leadership position in DSA. This includes formulations with high chi Block Copolymers (BCPs), Patterning Material by Epitaxy (PME) and Neutral Layer for DSA (NLD) materials for Surface Modification for Advanced Resolution Technology (SMART), Liu-Nealey (LiNe) flow, and other evolving DSA processes.

In the EUV space, Merck's Extreme(tm) rinse materials tackles the resist collapse issues during the development process by widening the process window while reducing overall defect levels. Newly developed materials enable planar surface by using a spin coat process on topographical substrates. These innovative materials address residue issues during etch, as well as critical dimension (CD) control issues using current lithography materials. The company also offers novel chemical shrink materials for negative tone development (NTD) processing. The NTD shrink material offers tunable CD shrink capability and can be an effective solution to improve pattern roughness and CD uniformity.

Merck aims to become the key solutions provider for semiconductor applications through its many acquisition activities in 2015. This includes acquiring SAFC Hitech, the leading provider of Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) precursors. SAFC Hitech was the high tech material business of the Sigma Aldrich Group acquired by Merck in end of 2015, and now has become part of the IC Materials Business Unit in the organization. Ormet Circuits Inc., a start-up company with key technologies for lead-free conductive pastes for packaging applications, also joins Merck and has added strength to its advanced packaging space.

By leveraging complementary know-how in chemistry and scaling up of metal organics, polymers and other synthesis, Merck is able to offer a broader pipeline and extended R&D capabilities to the customers. One solid example is the innovative spin-on metal oxide hard mask (MHM) platform, which enables superior etch resistance with good filling properties and clean wet or dry etch removal options. In collaboration with the SAFC Hitech Deposition R&D team, Merck is exploring the synergistic opportunities and advanced techniques to develop complementary MHM solutions to solve future device node requirements.

"Merck is the leader in the semiconductor materials industry, with 80% of our products achieving either number 1 or 2 position in the market. Now we are building broader solutions and extending our footprint in the IC materials field. Our goal is to provide best in class and tailor-made products to support our customers in developing next generation lithography technology", states Rico Wiedenbruch, Head of IC Materials BU.

In addition, Merck has been partnering with imec (Interuniversity Microelectronics Center) in the advanced lithography research for many years. In the framework of imec's industrial affiliation program, partners can access the latest materials results and conduct testing in imec's state of the art facilities in Belgium.