ASML’s grip on the most advanced corner of chip manufacturing is tightening. The Dutch company, already the sole supplier of extreme ultraviolet lithography systems, is winning broader industry support for High Numerical Aperture EUV, or High NA, its next-generation technology for printing smaller and denser circuitry.… Read More
A Study of Photoresist Bake Influence on Stochastics for DUV Immersion Lithography
Deep-ultraviolet (DUV) immersion lithography remains a critical patterning technology for advanced semiconductor manufacturing. Using a 193 nm ArF exposure system with water between the projection lens and wafer, immersion lithography increases numerical aperture and enables smaller features than dry exposure. However,… Read More
High-NA EUV Moves From Experiment to Manufacturing
Intel Foundry and ASML say high-numerical-aperture extreme-ultraviolet lithography has crossed an important boundary: it is no longer only a development tool, but a production technology. At the SPIE Photomask Technology and Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography conference, the companies reported that Intel has processed … Read More
ASML and TSMC’s 12-Inch Photomask Initiative: Technical Significance
ASML and TSMC’s proposed shift from 6-inch to 12-inch photomasks is an attempt to redesign a critical but often overlooked part of advanced semiconductor manufacturing. Photomasks are precision plates carrying the circuit patterns projected by a lithography scanner onto a silicon wafer. In extreme-ultraviolet lithography,… Read More
Five Billion Pulses Later: What DUV Optics Testing Reveals About Semiconductor Tool Uptime
By Dr. Sabina Kuprėnaitė
Deep-ultraviolet optics used in semiconductor lithography may be exposed to billions of pulses over their service life. That creates a qualification challenge that initial reflectance specifications or laser-induced damage thresholds alone cannot answer.
A mirror may meet its optical specification… Read More
Huawei Can’t Shrink Its Chips, So It’s Folding Them
On May 25, Huawei semiconductor chief He Tingbo unveiled LogicFolding, an architecture intended to advance chip performance without relying on ever-smaller transistors. Presented alongside Huawei’s “Tau Scaling Law,” the approach prioritizes signal speed over transistor dimensions. It is a genuine engineering response… Read More
Reducing EUV Exposure Dose Through Underlayer Engineering
Extreme-ultraviolet lithography is essential for manufacturing advanced semiconductor devices, but its continued scaling presents a difficult materials problem. Photoresists must simultaneously provide high resolution, low exposure dose, limited line-edge or linewidth roughness, and extremely low defectivity. … Read More
ASML’s Path to Lithography Dominance—and the Coming Maskless Revolution
ASML’s dominance was not born from a single invention. It emerged from four decades of systems engineering, supplier orchestration, and repeated bets on lithographic transitions that competitors judged too expensive. Founded in 1984 as a Philips–ASM joint venture, the Dutch company first differentiated itself with modular… Read More
Intel and TSMC Take Different Paths to High-NA EUV
Intel and TSMC are pursuing the same objective—manufacturing smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient semiconductors—but they have adopted different strategies for advanced lithography. Intel moved early to develop High-Numerical-Aperture Extreme Ultraviolet lithography, commonly called High-NA EUV, while TSMC… Read More
CEO Interview with Yossi Meyouhas of Xsight Labs
Yossi Meyouhas is the CEO of Xsight Labs. Yossi joined Xsight Labs in May 2021 as Chief Operating Officer. Prior to Xsight Labs, Yossi was SVP R&D in Valens Semiconductors (2017-2021), and before that served in multiple senior positions in Marvell Technology Group, the last being SVP Engineering and General Manager of Marvell


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