ASML welcomes chipmakers to a brand new test lab at its Veldhoven site to discover the most advanced EUV machines.

ASML and imec have cut the red ribbon with a press release High NA EUV lithography lab By. ASML and imec will jointly operate the test facility at ASML’s production site in Veldhoven, the Netherlands. Both chip manufacturers and material suppliers are welcome to discover ASML’s most advanced machines.

High NA

The showpiece is the Twinscan EXE:5000, an EUV scanner with high NA. The description High NA (numerical aperture) refers to the higher numerical equipment of the lens in the scanner, which is 0.55, while most devices have an aperture of 0.33. This should make it possible in the future to develop even smaller chips with higher density than is possible with current technology.

Luc Vandenhove, CEO of imec, emphasizes the importance of this type of machine for the global chip industry. “High NA EUV is the next milestone in optical lithography. This will improve yield and reduce cycle time and even CO2 emissions compared to existing EUV systems. It will therefore be an important factor in pushing Moore’s Law well into the Angstrom era. We are now looking forward to exploring these possibilities in real life.”

Expensive toys

ASML delivered a first example of the machine at the last minute in 2023: Intel was lucky. ASML plans to produce the machine in larger quantities from 2025 or 2026. Industry players can experiment in the test lab and with the machine and, if possible, place their order. The unit price is estimated at around 350 million euros.

“The lithography lab offers our customers, partners and suppliers the opportunity to access the High NA EUV system for process development while they wait for their own system to be available in their factories. This can significantly accelerate the learning curve of the technology and make its introduction into production smoother,” says ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet, who succeeded Peter Wennink in April.