But TI (Dallas) is also struggling to ramp up its 193-nm immersion lithography scanners from ASML Holding NV at 45 nm.

Chip giant TI is currently ramping up its 65-nm process, with plans to roll out its 45-nm technology in the near future. At the 65-nm node, TI has been using ASML's 193-nm ''dry'' scanners and Novellus' low-k films.

At 45-nm, TI is switching gears and will use Applied's low-k film technology, dubbed Black Diamond, said Hans Stork, senior vice president and chief technology officer at TI, during a presentation at the Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) here on Monday (Jan. 8).

Applied's low-k technology is still being qualified at TI, Stork said. Black Diamond is a carbon-doped oxide film that uses Applied's chemical vapor deposition (CVD) tools.

Meanwhile, at TI, ASML's 193-nm immersion lithography scanners are not meeting the necessary ''defect and throughput'' specifications — at least for now, Stork said.

ASML, he said, must tweak the alignment for its 1700i line of 193-nm immersion scanners at TI. The alignment issues are impacting the overall throughput for the immersion machines, he said.

This is not surprising, given that the 1700i is a new class of tools. But by the time when TI goes into production at the 45-nn mode, Stork expects that ASML will resolve the problem.

''It's a new tool,'' he said. ''I'm not worried.''

Stork was also critical of low- and high-k dielectric films. Many leading-edge chip makers are struggling with low-k, which seems to be stuck at ''k effective'' levels of 2.9.

''There is a need for better low-k,'' Stork said. ''We haven't made very much progress.''

And not surprisingly, there are still major hurdles for the advent of high-k and metal gates for gate-stack applications, he said. TI is not expected to use high-k at the 45-nm node, he said.

One saving grace for chip makers is strained engineering, which has proved to boost mobility in next-generation transistor designs. ''Strained engineering is the best thing since sliced bread,'' he said.