SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Mapper Lithography BV and CEA-Leti have signed an agreement under which Mapper will ship its 300-mm electron-beam lithography platform to CEA-Leti in Grenoble.

The machine will be used for the so-called Imagine program. That effort will cover a range of topics, including tool assessment, patterning and process integration, data handling and cost of ownership studies.

In that program, IC companies will assess Mapper's technology for maskless lithography in IC manufacturing. CEA-Leti and Mapper are currently in the process of selecting semiconductor companies to join the program.

In R&D for several years, Mapper's e-beam maskless lithography tool is said to use over 10,000 electron beams working in parallel to directly write circuit patterns on a wafer, eliminating the need for the costly photomasks used in current lithography machines.

Recently, Mapper named a new chief executive and expanded its alliance with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC). Under the recent plan, Mapper (Delft, The Netherlands) recently shipped its first 300-mm, multiple-electron-beam maskless lithography platform for process development and device prototyping to TSMC.

This platform gives TSMC the opportunity to take the next step forward in exploring multiple e-beam technology as a lithography option at the 22-nm node and beyond.

Mapper is expanding its efforts in the arena, said Christopher Hegarty, CEO of the company. ''By shipping this machine to CEA-Leti and executing an industry-wide development program in the coming three years, Mapper will have the opportunity to verify the applicability of our technology with a number of different companies,'' he said in a statement.

''CEA-Leti's expertise in electron beam technology makes them the ideal partner for us to integrate our technology into the production infrastructure and make it production ready,'' he said. ''This allows companies involved in resist and data processing technologies to develop the infrastructure required to be ready for 22- nm.''

Laurent Mallier, CEO of CEA-Leti, agreed. ''CEA-Leti's extensive experience in electron beam technology for IC manufacturing and Mapper's technology are a perfect fit to host an international program at CEA-Leti,'' he said. ''We have been working very successfully with Mapper in the European Magic program. Having this machine at our site will enable us to take maskless lithography to the next step in the development that is required to make it a viable solution for 22-nm manufacturing.''

Earlier this year, a new European program was hatched that will push the insertion of maskless lithography for IC manufacturing at the 32-nm ''half-pitch'' node in 2009.

The program is called Magic--or Maskless Lithography for IC manufacturing. The group consists of two developers of maskless lithography tools: Mapper Lithography of the Netherlands and IMS Nanofabrication AG of Austria. Magic also consists of STMicroelectronics, CEA-Leti, Synopsys, Qimonda, KLA-Tencor, Fraunhofer and others.