Nikon ArF Immersion Scanner NSR-S609B Wins 2006 Nikkei Superior Products and Services Award for Excellence

Nikon Corporation (Michio Kariya, President) recently won the Nikkei Business Daily Award for Excellence of the 2006 Nikkei Superior Products and Services Awards for its NSR-S609B ArF Immersion Scanner available on the market since January 2006.

Issued by Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc., these awards distinguish among about 20,000 products and services introduced yearly and recorded on the four Nikkei newspapers article database and the Nikkei database. The awards are based on comprehensive assessment of technology development, cost performance, contribution to business performance, potential, originality and impact on industry and society. For 2006 and the 25th edition of these awards, several winners were announced: 16 for "excellence," 28 for "superiority" and 1 "jury special".

Nikon won the Nikkei Business Daily Award for Excellence of the 2004 Nikkei Superior Products and Services Awards for its D70 digital SLR camera.

The NSR-S609B ArF Immersion Scanner prints circuit patterns on silicon wafers via excimer laser light, determining performance levels for LSI manufacturing. Nikon changed the direction of development with immersion lithography. The space between the projection lens and the wafer is filled with purified water-an innovation that breaks through the barrier of NA (numerical aperture value indicative of lens performance) 1.0. This is a key to performance that cannot be matched through conventional methods involving lithography in a natural atmosphere, realized by such unique advanced technologies as those for local fill nozzle and tandem stage. The NSR-S609B scanner realizes circuit line width of less than 55 nm (1nm: 1 millionth of 1 mm) and operates in the world's most advanced semiconductor manufacturing factories.

Making high-tech steppers and scanners requires unprecedented precision and performance. Given its philosophy of focusing on trustworthiness and creativity, Nikon will continue developing nanotechnologies to advance LSI miniaturization, and give the information society an even sharper edge.