Imec, Toshiba and SanDisk expand partnership

Imec has announced that Toshiba and SanDisk have joined imec's industrial affiliation programme on advanced patterning. The programme tackles the challenges in bringing extreme ultraviolet lithography to high volume manufacturing. The program also develops other technologies for extending 193nm immersion lithography.

Toshiba and SanDisk have been core partners in imec's industrial affiliation program in Advanced Memory since 2011 and, upon joining the affiliation programme; have now expanded their strategic partnership.

"This expanded agreement with Toshiba and SanDisk represents the next step in our long-term strategic and fruitful partnership. We are proud to join forces and strengthen our collective research competence in advanced patterning," said Luc Van den hove, president and ceo at imec. "The agreement is a testament of the industrial value and impact our R&D programmes have on advanced semiconductor scaling. To date, this programme, supported by our world-class infrastructure, represents the largest investment in advanced lithography equipment in the world."