ASML Finds Method to Increase Chip Production by 50% Before 2030
ASML Holding, the sole commercial extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machine manufacturer, has developed a method to boost the power of light sources in key chip manufacturing machines, potentially increasing chip production by 50% by 2030, Reuters reported exclusively.
EUV machines are crucial tools for companies like TSMC and Intel in producing advanced computing chips. Michael Purvis, Chief Technology Expert for EUV Light Source at ASML, stated in an interview with Reuters that this advancement is significant and can be proven effective in a short period.
Speaking at the company’s factory near San Diego, California, Purvis added, “The system can generate 1,000 watts of power with all the same requirements as requested by customers.”
The U.S. government, in collaboration with Dutch authorities, has worked to prevent the transfer of EUV machines to China, as their technology lags significantly behind the West in this area.
With the technical progress unveiled on Monday, ASML aims to surpass any potential competitors by improving the most challenging aspects of the machines.
The breakthrough is designed to generate EUV light with appropriate power and properties for mass chip production. Researchers at the company have found a way to increase the power of EUV light sources from the current 600 watts to 1,000 watts. The main advantage of this technology is that higher power means more chips can be produced per hour, ultimately reducing the cost per chip.
The printing process of chips is similar to a photograph, where EUV light is projected onto silicon wafers coated with a chemical called a photoresist. With a more powerful EUV light source, chip factories require shorter exposure times.
Teun van Gogh, Executive Vice President of the ASML NXE EUV machine series, told Reuters, “We want to ensure our customers can continue to use EUV technology at a lower cost.”
By the end of the 2020s (before 2030), customers should be able to process approximately 330 silicon wafers per hour on each machine, up from the current 220 wafers. Depending on chip size, each wafer can accommodate from tens to thousands of devices.
To generate light with a wavelength of 13.5 nanometers, ASML’s lithography machine melts tin droplets into a chamber, where a massive carbon dioxide laser heats them into plasma. This superheated state emits EUV light hotter than the sun, which is collected and fed into the machine for chip printing by precision optical equipment provided by Carl Zeiss AG in Germany.
Monday’s key advancements include doubling the number of tin droplets to around 100,000 per second and using two smaller laser pulses to shape them into plasma, instead of the single shaping pulse used in current machines.
“It’s very challenging because you need to master a lot of things, a lot of technologies,” said Jorge J. Rocca, a professor at Colorado State University specializing in laser technology and training several ASML scientists. “What they have achieved – 1,000 watts – is quite remarkable,” he added.
Purvis believes that ASML’s technology for achieving a 1,000-watt power output will lead to continuous progress in the future. He further stated, “We see a fairly clear path to 1,500 watts and there’s no fundamental reason we can’t achieve 2,000 watts.”