Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO)
About the company
TNO is the largest independent research institute in the Netherlands with the mission to create impactful innovations for the sustainable wellbeing and prosperity of society. TNO has some 4800 employees and generates a revenue of 831 MEuro.
By translating scientific knowledge into practical applications, TNO contributes to the innovation capacity of businesses and government. TNO participates in many public private partnerships (about 30% of the total turnover), including EU funded collaborations. Our expertise covers the whole chain from basic (material) research, design and engineering, to manufacturing and testing of products and systems.
The Unit High Tech Industry focuses on innovation in the areas of Flexible & Free-form Products, Semiconductor & Quantum Technology, Smart Industry, and Space & Scientific Instrumentation.
Project contribution
In the 14AMI project, TNO provides key experimental and modelling expertise to support next‑generation EUV lithography at the 14Å technology node. TNO’s contributions focus on plasma–material interactions and advanced metrology relevant to scanner performance and mask lifetime.
Within WP2, TNO develops and validates measurement techniques for contamination transport (e.g. IF‑DGL velocity probing) and leads the Wafer Heat Load (WHL) task, delivering spatially resolved heat‑load sensors and dedicated thermal wafers to support thermal qualification of future EUV scanners.
Within WP3, TNO leads work on plasma tailoring and EUV mask degradation, combining physics‑based models with scanner‑relevant EUV and hydrogen plasma experiments. This work quantifies the impact of ion energy distributions on photomask degradation and supports mitigation strategies for future high‑power EUV scanners. TNO also contributes to advanced metrology, developing IR‑AFM techniques for automated, reproducible subsurface resist characterization suitable for process control.
In addition, TNO develops HEROISM, a novel contactless acoustic imaging technique that enables high‑resolution subsurface characterization. By combining optical super‑resolution with photo‑acoustic excitation, HEROISM allows imaging of buried features through optically opaque layers, supporting advanced mask and materials analysis.
Together, these contributions strengthen Europe’s capability in EUV process control, metrology, and scanner technology.