Building a bridge from that previous news of the day to this earlier news, which explains why the use of pellicles is ‘absolutely mandatory’ in sub-2nm production with standard EUV equipment.
Today, TSMC stated that yields are ‘better than expected’ in 1.4nm trial production. So far, I haven’t seen any other explanatory factor for this than the use of pellicles. This doesn’t provide certainty that Canatu’s pellicles are in use… but all the small hints are pointing in that direction, nonetheless.
Again, this is a costly move that is accompanied by a great deal of complications. For instance, when producing 1.4nm and 1nm wafers using standard EUV machines, more exposure will be necessary, meaning that the photomask will be used often to achieve success, which can compromise yields. During this phase, the use of pellicles will be absolutely mandatory to prevent the aforementioned dust particles and contaminants from entering the wafer-manufacturing stage.