Membrane
The world’s thinnest and strongest carbon nanotube membranes, tailorable for your exact needs. Applicable for high-power EUV lithography and X-Ray filter applications. Made of the most advanced carbon nanotubes, known for their exceptional purity and properties.
Canatu CNT membranes: a versatile platform technology
The semiconductor industry is experiencing growing demand for advanced chips due to advancements in AI and computing, with sub-7nm chips made by EUV technology growing the fastest. EUV enables higher transistor density, resulting in smaller, more efficient, and more powerful chips. These chips power everything from Apple iPhones to NVIDIAs AI accelerators. Canatu is a critical technology supplier for EUV.
Canatu creates advanced carbon nanotubes (Canatu CNTs), related products, and manufacturing equipment for the semiconductor industry. Canatu CNT membranes can be used in pre- and post-lithography exposure processes to enhance quality control and as CNT pellicle membranes to increase productivity.
Canatu operates through two business models: selling CNT products directly or selling CNT reactors and licensing the related technology so customers can produce CNT pellicle membranes under a limited license.
Our patented Dry Deposition CNT manufacturing method yields high-purity, strong CNTs with a unique combination of properties that can be tailored to application-specific needs. Canatu CNT membranes are highly uniform and offer a distinctive set of properties unequaled by any other material. They feature high EUV/X-Ray transmission (>97%T), high mechanical strength, and high heat resistance (>1500°C), which makes them an attractive material for extreme environments.
- High transmission: high EUV / X-Ray transmission enhances throughput.
- High thermal stability: up to 1500°C in vacuum
- Low flare: minimal light scattering enables precise printing of tiny features without pattern distortion
- Exceptional strength: high heat resistance, chemical inertness, and high-pressure tolerance, ensuring durability in the next-gen scanners.
- Tailored: tunable and functionalized to provide the exact properties necessary for each application.
High transmittance
Canatu’s ultra-thin CNT membranes offer >97%T at EUV / X-Ray and minimal flare (scattering). In EUV pellicle application, high transmittance means more EUV light passes through the pellicle and reaches the wafer, increasing throughput.
High heat resistance
Canatu CNT membranes have high heat resistance and can endure exceptionally high temperatures without experiencing any degradation or structural damage. Our membranes can withstand temperatures as high as 1500°C. This level of heat resistivity far surpasses that of quartz, which breaks at 1200°C, and polyimide, which decomposes at temperatures below 520°C.
High mechanical strength
The high tensile strength of 1-dimensional carbon nanotubes makes the 2-dimensional membranes very robust with highly versatile mechanical properties, even allowing for some stretching within the membrane to withstand unexpected mechanical loads without breaking or shattering. In EUV pellicle and debris filter applications, elasticity can help protect the system integrity in case of an accident or unforeseen consequences.
Our products
Canatu CNT membranes are used in EUV pellicles to protect photomasks from contamination during chip production. These membranes are essential for next-generation high-power EUV lithography machines operating at power levels exceeding 500W. With high EUV light transmittance, exceptional strength, and thermal stability up to 1500°C in a vacuum, CNT pellicles have the potential to outperform conventional composite pellicles in handling the higher heat loads and mechanical stresses of next-generation EUV lithography machines. Canatu CNT pellicle membranes support productivity increase potential in the EUV lithography process by up to 7-15%. Discover the product.
Canatu inspection membranes enhance quality control by filtering debris from the EUV light source and optical path, preventing particle contamination on photomasks. They feature high EUV transmittance for optimal light passage, enabling accurate defect detection. These membranes are utilized at various inspection stages, including mask manufacturing as well as pre- and post-lithography processes. They also reduce inspection machine power usage, extending the laser source’s lifespan and reducing service intervals.
Coated CNT membranes can be used as optical filters for EUV and X-ray applications, offering dual functionality as optical and debris filters. They selectively block unwanted particles, electrons, and photons (e.g., DUV, VIS, and IR radiation) while providing high EUV and X-ray transmittance. Customized coating layers are available to filter specific wavelengths. These ultra-thin, free-standing CNT membranes can be supported by metallic or all-carbon mesh structures to enhance mechanical durability. Our optical filters are compatible with high-vacuum and differential-pressure environments. Discover the product.
Canatu develops and manufactures custom CNT synthesis reactors and licenses its technology so customers can produce CNT membranes products themselves. Our S-100 Semiconductor reactors are customized to produce high-precision CNT membranes products. We also offer peripherals and consumables to ensure optimal reactor performance, as well as lifecycle services. Canatu’s patented CNT reactors and Dry Deposition process offers simpler, faster, and more cost-effective method, yielding longer, stronger, and more pristine CNTs. Discover the product.
Download technical paper
Please download the most recent 2023 SPIE Photomask + EUVL Conference proceedings to gain deeper understanding of our versatile platform technology, unique CNT synthesis and direct dry deposition benefits, common tailoring, and potential uses for our carbon nanotube membranes.
Download technical paper
Membrane fabrication
Canatu carbon nanotubes are synthesized from gases in a floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition (FC-CVD) reactor. These CNTs are then collected onto a filter and dry deposited onto either an open frame or a border, creating a free-standing carbon nanotube membrane. This unique process yields high purity, strong, and uniform carbon nanotube membranes. Subsequently, these membranes undergo post-process steps to tailor membranes for application -specific requirements.
Canatu CNT is renowned for its high quality, purity, and remarkable properties. Our distinct expertise lies in having strong control over every aspect of the FC-CVD synthesis process, spanning from catalyst formation and activation to controlling temperature gradient, reagent gases, and the reactor design itself. With over a decade of experience in mass-producing CNTs, Canatu has highly developed expertise in tailoring our CNTs to meet the precise needs of various applications.
Membranes for your exact needs
Canatu CNT provides the versatility and reliability needed in highly engineered solutions. Both, the individual CNT properties, and the resulting membrane morphology can be tuned. For instance, we can modify the number of walls in individual CNTs, offering the flexibility to choose between single-walled CNTs (SWCNT) or multi-walled CNTs (MWCNT). Multi-walled CNTs can be beneficial when optimizing covalent coating processes. Additionally, tube diameter and chirality can also be adjusted independent of the wall count. The bundle size and the overall morphology of the membrane can be tuned during synthesis to optimize coating processes. This allows for controlling factors such as reducing the total surface area that needs to be coated, or limiting exposure to potentially harmful environments. Additionally, to fine-tune coating properties, the surface chemistry of CNTs can be pre-treated through targeted surface functionalization. If specific anisotropic properties, such as mechanical or electrical properties, are desired, the orientation of the CNT network can be precisely controlled. However, in EUV applications, where minimizing scattering and flare is essential, an isotropic orientation is preferred.
This versatile platform technology can be further enhanced through chemical functionalization and coating. For instance, coatings may serve purposes like filtering out deep ultraviolet (DUV) photons in optical filters, or creating a gas-seal and to separate gas compartments in EUV machinery. CNTs can be coated with any conventional PVD, ALD, or CVD coatings, as well as with a more novel electrochemical coating method. The inherent mechanisms of electrochemistry enable advantages such as enhanced conformality and thickness control in the coating process.
Finally, metal nanoparticles can be removed to ensure membrane purity. Metals are commonly used as catalysts in the CNT synthesis. Purification is often a fundamental necessity as any outgassing or ejection of material at high temperatures can damage other components within EUV machinery.
Canatu membranes are applicable for a variety of uses. Our CNT membranes are meticulously engineered to perform exceptionally well in the most demanding conditions, such as next-gen high power EUV lithography and optical filter applications. For instance, thicker and densely coated CNT membranes are inherently applicable for filtering debris from an EUV source, blocking DUV photons which could be detrimental to specific mirrors, detectors, or photoresists used in EUV machinery, and establishing an effective gas seal to control differential pressure. Canatu membranes are well-suited also for optical filter applications to block particles, electrons, and photons that fall outside the desired energy range.
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