ASML Aims for Hyper-NA EUV, Shrinking Chip Limits

Coincidentally, i have been recently watching&#x2F;reading a bunch of videos&#x2F;articles on ASML and their technology.<p>Can some experts&#x2F;knowledgeable folks here actually explain the technology in ELI5 (and above) terms? As i understand, a laser (what are its characteristics?) is fired at Tin droplets in a vaccuum chamber causing it to emit light in &quot;Extreme UV&quot; wavelength range which is then focused using a set of Zeiss mirrors to do the actual photolithography. Wikipedia (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Extreme_ultraviolet_lithography" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Extreme_ultraviolet_lithograph...</a>) is well over my head. What i am unable to bridge is how this EUV wavelength maps to transistor sizes (in nanometers) via High-NA&#x2F;Hyper-NA technology.<p>From <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.laserfocusworld.com&#x2F;blogs&#x2F;article&#x2F;14039015&#x2F;how-does-the-laser-technology-in-euv-lithography-work" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.laserfocusworld.com&#x2F;blogs&#x2F;article&#x2F;14039015&#x2F;how-d...</a><p><i>A major limitation comes from the laws of optics. German physicist Ernst Abbe found that the resolution of a microscope d is (roughly) limited to the wavelength λ of the light used in illumination:<p>d = λ&#x2F;(nsin(α)) ...(1)<p>where n is the refractive index of the medium between the lens and the object and α is the half-angle of the objective&#x27;s cone of light. For lithography, substituting numerical aperture (NA) for n sin(α) and adding a factor k to the formula (because lithographic resolution can be strongly tweaked with illumination tricks), the minimum feasible structure, or critical dimension (CD), is:<p>CD = kλ&#x2F;NA ...(2)<p>This formula, which governs all lithographic imaging processes, makes obvious why the wavelength is such a crucial parameter. As a result, engineers have been looking for light sources with ever-shorter wavelengths to produce ever-smaller features.</i><p>Explain the above?

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.eetimes.com&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;ASML-slide-one.png" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.eetimes.com&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;ASML-slide-one.pn...</a><p>This is a very fun subsystem diagram.

Simple question, but the article doesn’t define this: what does “NA” mean here, and what do the does increasing NA from 0.33 to 0.55 mean? The gist I got from the article was “bigger number better” but I have no idea what these actually mean.

If I were a G7 leader, the state of global semiconductor production would make me very nervous.<p>ASML is a Dutch company and is essentially a monopoly now that they first commercialized EUV lithography. They can essentially decide what companies live and die.<p>TSMC is probably ASML&#x27;s largest customer because it reportedly produces over half of the world&#x27;s chips. It is a Taiwanese company (and Taiwan accounts for two-thirds of global chip production). There is Intel too but TSMC have been way more successful in commercial chip fabrication in recent years.<p>TSMC is of course in Taiwan, which is way more politically precarious than Western Europe. A major disruption to Taiwan&#x27;s production could be absolutely devastating. This is probably why the US is pursuing domestic chip fabrication (eg in Ohio with the CHIPS Act).<p>But having two companies with this much potential market influence has to make a lot of people very nervous.

Could if been interesting if the article included price in some manner; as I understand it the total cost pr. transistor is still lower at 28 nm lithography and will be so in the foreseeable future.

<p><pre><code> “There are new materials which have a higher mobility for electrons,” [than silicium] </code></pre> Anyone know what these materials are?