Status 157nm lithography development at IMEC

157nm lithography is currently considered as the main technology for the manufacturing of critical 65nm node layers and beyond. After a number of potential show stoppers of 157nm have been removed in the last three years, the final phase of development will now start based on the first full-field step and scan exposure systems, that will be inserted in the next 6 months. This paper describes the status and progress of the IMEC 157nm program, that is aiming to remove the remaining 157nm engineering challenges. Despite the fact that the first full field scanner (ASML Micrascan VII) will ship next month to IMEC, the investigation on a number of fall-field issues already started. Results on reticle handling including vacuum ultra violet cleaning, on hard pellicle printing and on 157nm resist full field patterning are discussed in this paper.