Chipmakers plough cash into EUV
 

Three of the big names in chipmaking are putting $7.3 million into a tiny start-up called Inpria which is improving chip lithography and developing a lithography tool known as extreme ultraviolet.

Inpria is a 12-person outfit, which spun out of Oregon State University in 2007, and it is sure it will have a product for high-volume manufacturing in 2017.

Andrew Grenville, Inpria's chief executive told Oregon Live that Samsung Venture Investment Corp. led the round, joined by Intel Capital and Applied Ventures – the venture capital arm of equipment-maker Applied Materials.

If development proceeds on target, Grenville said he hopes his company's technology will be ready for the 7-nanometer production node Intel plans to launch almost four years from now.

Inpria will hire additional staff, add lab space and accelerate its product development, Grenville said. The company plans to hire two or three people in the near term.

The focus of the company is EUV, but Grenville thinks that the company's materials work could be applied to other emerging challenges in the chip industry.

http://news.techeye.net/chips/chipma...-cash-into-euv