BIRMINGHAM, UK and Westwood, Mass. — Feb. 26, 2018 — Irresistible Materials (IM), a UK based materials technology company, announced today that it has increased production capacity by 10 fold in readiness for the commercial launch of its EUV photo-resist and spin-on-carbon materials.  First launched at SPIE 2017, IM’s breakthrough Multi-Trigger Resist delivers high performance for Resolution, Sensitivity and Line Edge Roughness, as validated by recent tests on NXE exposure tools at IMEC.

“Due to intense customer interest in 2017, IM has shifted its focus to pilot-scale production to provide samples for pre-production testing,” said David Ure, Founder and Executive Director of IM.  “We have met a series of key technical milestones required for commercial prototyping, including third party performance testing and validation on an NXE tool, and our next move will be to work with our manufacturing partner Nano-C to expand production facility footprint through 2018 and 2019 in preparation for large-scale pilot production needs in 2019/2020.”

Highlighting its industry momentum, IM’s Multi-Trigger Resist will be featured on the following panels during SPIE 2018:

1. Technical Working Group (TWG) Resist talk on “Multi-Trigger Resists” on Feb 25th.
2. 10586-4 Session 2 EUV Resist processes (joint session with 10583 and 10586) on Feb 26th at 2:50 – 3:10 pm, presented by Yannick Vestors (IMEC) titled “Multi-Trigger resist patterning with ASML NXE3300 EUV scanner”
3. 10586-22 Session 7 (Hard Mask and Under layers) on Feb 27th at 4:20 – 4:40 pm titled “High carbon fullerene based spin on Organic Hard Mask”
4. 10583-54 Session 14 (EUV Resist Roughness) on 1st March at 2:10-2:30 pm titled “High Resolution EUV lithography using MTR resist”

Key Production Milestones

Over the last year, IM achieved several key production milestones that enabled it to significant increase its capacity.  Working closely with its manufacturing partner Nano-C, IM was able to:

• • Expand the formulation and production team both at IM and Nano-C.
  • Implement larger scale filtration systems (for both trace metal and particulate removal).
  • Scale-up of raw material production techniques in both spin-on carbon and EUV Resist.

About Multi-Trigger Resist

IM’s Multi Trigger Resist is a non-metal based molecular resist, with its chemistry based on a multicomponent crosslinking reaction that self-limits; addressing chemical blur seen in a typical CARs.  Over the last year, IM has tuned the formulation to address sensitivity and now line edge roughness. The Multi Trigger Resist platform’s tune-ability enables it to scale beyond 2020 performance requirements, and has already demonstrated well-resolved lines at 14nm and below. Multi Trigger Resist is specifically designed to address EUV needs for multiple future nodes, while also demonstrating the lithography performance for EUV introduction and without requiring new etch gases, etch infrastructure, or extraordinary exposure energies.

About Irresistible Materials

IM was created in 2010 to further develop and commercialize lithographic materials technology for the next generation of microchips. Its technology was originally developed at the University of Birmingham, UK.  Since launch, IM has developed an extensive patent portfolio covering innovative resist (EUV and E-beam) and spin-on-carbon hard-mask materials. It continues to work closely with the University, alongside a growing network of partners and collaborators worldwide to both develop and commercialize its materials portfolio. For more information, visit: www.irresistiblematerials.com.

About Nano-C, Inc.

Located in Westwood, Massachusetts, Nano-C is a leading developer of nanostructured carbon for use in energy and electronics applications. These materials include fullerenes, carbon nanotubes and their chemical derivatives. Nano-C’s mission is to play a key role in enabling applications of these materials and is committed to their responsible development and use. Nano-C is a privately held company founded in 2001. For more information, visit: http://www.nano-c.com/