ASML's Secret: A view from inside the global semiconductor giant [video]

To summarize the video the secret is just how the people collaborate. Some parts seem oddly manual and others interestingly esoteric. Interesting little detail is how that researcher knows the political game of not presenting to Intel but instead having the VP himself present.<p>At least there is a lesson for society here about how to keep people together instead of dividing them. I&#x27;m both fascinated by the company, and like others in the company drawn by the technology, but also wonder if I would have a problem working in this cult like setting.

As a student, I did a tour of ASML. One of the coolest things was one of the tour guides bragging how they would inspect the prospective location for a new plant and deny sale if they didn&#x27;t like it.<p>Why? Because their machines are <i>incredibly</i> sensitive... and equally expensive. And your customers get angry if the machine doesn&#x27;t work reliably - and rightly so.<p>I don&#x27;t know if they do that still, and it likely was somewhat hyperbole, but the core of it is actually correct: the machine is indeed that sensitive, and is indeed that expensive. Every second of lost operation is expensive, and creating a fab around one of them is not quite as straightforward as just pouring some concrete somewhere and adding walls and a roof.

For Those looking to learn more about ASML. The book ASML&#x27;s architects by Rene Raaijmakers is a great book! (FYI: I&#x27;ve read the Dutch version, so I am not sure how good the translated version is)

ASML is the closest thing to the planet Dune in our world. Chips made with their machines extend life. Chips made with their machines expand consciousness. And he who controls the chips, controls the universe. The information universe, at least. I just wish for a messiah to arrive who leads the jihad against FAANG. The Kwisatz-RISC-V-Haderach. The Voice from the Open Source World. Fortunately, he need not fell Mark Zuckerberg in single combat with crysknife in order to lead our people to true freedom.

Asionometry has a fantastic series all about ASML that I highly recommend, starting with this video <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;CFsn1CUyXWs" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;CFsn1CUyXWs</a>

Well, the video does not show the ppl actually designing the blueprint of the machine and doing the R&amp;D, the real brains... we are showed mostly assembly workers (all above averagely skilled), customer service operators, etc.<p>I was surprised to agree with most of what ASML bosses said, and I would have given exactly the same answer than the assembly operator, namely not providing any timeline... because it is complete garbage to do so on so much complex machines, not to mention the machine is a prototype, then the first one. I may have answered &quot;yesterday&quot;.<p>But noway they will make me use a doz computer, or an android phone...<p>I am _seriously_ curious on how they want to get their pitch below 7nm with a 13.6nm EUV light. Do they plan to go massive multi-patterning with sub-nm xray positioning? For below 7nm pitch, what would they use: xray light? electron&#x2F;ion beams? pattern printing? And what about the purity of the wafer dopped silicon for smaller features? xray light: what materials to use?? Quantum interference tricks?<p>I wonder how many silicon atoms from a wafer crystal we have on a 1nm row...<p>All that is to get chips which consume less energy, get faster telecom, play magnificient games, store more in flash ram.

What&#x27;s the purpose of this corridor the workers walk through? Some kind of cleaning process, or a security scan to make sure they&#x27;re not bringing in unauthorized devices?<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;zQu_TMgHO98?t=34" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;zQu_TMgHO98?t=34</a>

I absolutely despise the ancient traditional ways they practice: referring to their techniques of &#x27;mystery&#x27;, secrecy, and occultation of knowledge (which they do in order to construct knowledge as authority and then wield it as power)<p>they&#x27;ve overdone it. by this point they have made it way to fucking difficult for people to truly come to grips with the complexity of modern life mostly becuase in their zealous protection of &#x27;technical knowledge&#x27; they&#x27;ve made a life such as my own impossible to realize (this in turn, stunts the advancement and development of ways to cope with the consequences of modernity and high-technology in the culture at large, becuase people cannot learn to undesrtand enough that they can figure it out; they move us to a scenario in which only their own chosen selected few are in a position from which something could be done; but they select for obedience and dullness; not for spark)<p>Maybe my reasoning is leaping a lot; but as I see things, this attitude towards knowledge and understanding is the cause of the now troubling distrust in the academic-scientific apparatus by a largely ignorant public (an ignorance which is somebody&#x27;s profit).<p>this attitude has stunted my own personal pursuit of happiness. that I cannot easily come to understand their &#x27;propietary&#x27; techniques (higher-order logical systems, advanced litography, etc) that they use to do what they do is just frustrating.<p>I&#x27;ll end by adding that there are many more instances of this attitude around knowledge in other subjects I&#x27;ve studied... even some which are no longer considered &#x27;sacred&#x27; (in more &#x27;developed&#x27; countries) but which were still making people act all mysterious and in awe of &#x27;the knowledge&#x27; in my own famously ignorant native country.