Contrary to the popular press, ASML High-NA EUV is not ready for logic production yet—and it may never be, at least not in the form originally envisioned. If you remember how long it took conventional EUV to become production-worthy—arguably 5–10 years—this should not come as a surprise. More importantly, this is no longer just… Read More
Crossing the Yield Cliff: IDP V6 and the Future of Manufacturing Forecasting
The paper, Industrial Defectivity Prediction (IDP) V6: A Two-Layer Yield Cliff Framework for Cross-Industry Mass-Production Forecasting, presents a generalized industrial yield-modeling architecture that extends the classical Negative Binomial framework through a two-layer phenomenological structure designed … Read More
Chemical Origins of Environmental Modifications to MOR Lithographic Chemistry
In the pursuit of advanced extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography for high-NA patterning, metal oxide resists (MORs) offer significant promise but face challenges like critical dimension (CD) variation due to atmospheric interactions. Presented at SPIE Advanced Lithography + Patterning 2025 by Kevin M. Dorney and colleagues… Read More
Beyond Moore’s Law: High NA EUV Lithography Redefines Advanced Chip Manufacturing
The imec installation of the ASML EXE:5200 High Numerical Aperture (High NA) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography system at imec represents a pivotal advancement in semiconductor manufacturing and research. This system, installed in imec’s 300 mm cleanroom in Leuven, Belgium, introduces unprecedented lithographic resolution… Read More
Accelerating Computational Lithography Using Massively Parallel GPU Rasterizer
As semiconductor manufacturing pushes deeper into the nanometer regime, computational lithography has evolved from a supporting step into a central pillar of advanced chip design. Mask synthesis, lithography simulation, and optical proximity correction (OPC) now demand unprecedented levels of accuracy and computational… Read More
Unraveling Dose Reduction in Metal Oxide Resists via Post-Exposure Bake Environment
In the realm of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, metal oxide resists (MORs) have emerged as promising candidates for advanced semiconductor patterning. However, their stability poses challenges, particularly interactions with clean-room environments like humidity and airborne molecular contaminants (AMCs) … Read More
TSMC Process Simplification for Advanced Nodes
In the modern world, the semiconductor industry stands at the heart of technological innovation. From smartphones and laptops to advanced medical devices and artificial intelligence systems, nearly every piece of contemporary electronics depends on increasingly sophisticated microchips. Among the leading companies … Read More
CEO Interview with Dr. Heinz Kaiser of Schott
With over 25 years of experience in the specialty materials industry, Dr. Heinz Kaiser is a member of the Management Board of SCHOTT AG, responsible for High-Performance Materials and Flat Glass, while also heading Sales and Market Development, Sales Excellence, and Intellectual Property. With a strong engineering background… Read More
Kirin 9030 Hints at SMIC’s Possible Paths Toward >300 MTr/mm2 Without EUV
Earlier this month, TechInsights did a teardown of the Kirin 9030 chip found in Huawei’s Mate 80 Pro Max [1]. Two clear statements were made on the findings: (1) the transistor density of SMIC’s “N+3” process was definitely below that of the earlier 5nm processes from Samsung and TSMC, and (2) metal pitch was aggressively scaled
Self-Aligned Spacer Patterning for Minimum Pitch Metal in DRAM
The patterning of features outside a DRAM cell array can be just as challenging as those within the array itself [1]. The array contains features which are densely packed, but regularly arranged. On the other hand, outside the array, the minimum pitch features, such as the lowest metal lines in the periphery for the sense amplifier… Read More


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