Fraunhofer ISIT Supplies Key Chip to IMS Nanofabrication for Mask Writing

15 October 2026. The Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology (ISIT) in northern Germany manufactures specialized semiconductor chips for IMS Nanofabrication, an Austrian company that builds multibeam electron-beam systems for writing photomasks used in EUV lithography at technology nodes of 5 nm and below. The chips help operate equipment used by Intel and TSMC, according to the institute.

Fraunhofer supplies a component containing hundreds of thousands of individually controlled structures that allow each electron beam to be controlled independently. The collaboration began in 2005 through publicly funded research. The first demonstrator measured one square millimeter and contained 1,000 cells. By 2012, Fraunhofer and partners had developed a chip with approximately 262,000 individually controlled cells.

Around 2015, IMS began selling mask-writing systems incorporating the second-generation TROM2 chip to produce photomasks for the 7-nm technology nodes. Fraunhofer continues to manufacture that component. For the latest version, TROM3, IMS has expanded its manufacturing ecosystem. According to Fabian Lofink, deputy director of Fraunhofer ISIT, it contains approximately 590,000 control cells and supports higher data rates.

The chips are fabricated using advanced CMOS technology with feature sizes below 50 nm. Fraunhofer then adds structures that require electroplated gold electrodes, with some gold structures approaching 50 micrometers in height. The process involves approximately 15 lithography levels beyond the CMOS fabrication.

"Conventional foundries are looking for business cases involving at least 10,000 wafers a year," Lofink said. "We're operating at volumes roughly two orders of magnitude below that threshold."

Source: EE Times