CEO Interview with Jerome Paye of TAU Systems

CEO Interview with Jerome Paye of TAU Systems
by Daniel Nenni on 03-08-2026 at 2:00 pm

Jerome Paye CEO TAU Systems LR (1)

Jerome Paye has served as CEO of TAU Systems since late 2025, having joined the company shortly after its founding in 2022 as Chief Operating Officer. In that time, he has helped build TAU Systems into a high-performing team now focused on delivering the ultimate light source for semiconductor lithography.

Paye brings more than… Read More


TSMC Process Simplification for Advanced Nodes

TSMC Process Simplification for Advanced Nodes
by Daniel Nenni on 02-22-2026 at 4:00 pm

TSMC Patent US10692720B2

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


Via Multipatterning Regardless of Wavelength as High-NA EUV Lithography Becomes Too Stochastic

Via Multipatterning Regardless of Wavelength as High-NA EUV Lithography Becomes Too Stochastic
by Fred Chen on 09-28-2025 at 10:00 am

Fred Chen EUV 2025

For the so-called “2nm” node or beyond, the minimum metal pitch is expected to be 20 nm or even less, while at the same time, contacted gate pitch is being pushed to 40 nm [1]. Therefore, we expect via connections that can possibly be as narrow as 10 nm (Figure 1)! For this reason, it is natural to expect High-NA EUV lithography as the go-to

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EUV Resist Degradation with Outgassing at Higher Doses

EUV Resist Degradation with Outgassing at Higher Doses
by Fred Chen on 09-03-2025 at 8:00 am

EUV Resist Degradation with Outgassing at Higher Doses

Dosing for EUV lithography walks a fine line between productivity and defectivity. Fabs can choose higher-dose exposures to suppress photon shot noise [1]. However, higher doses require EUV machines to scan the wafer at slower speeds, degrading throughput [2].

On the other hand, there is the threat of resist thickness loss that… Read More


Edge Roughness Differences Among EUV Resists

Edge Roughness Differences Among EUV Resists
by Fred Chen on 07-23-2025 at 6:00 am

Edge Roughness Differences Among EUV Resists

EUV resists are a key component in the implementation and optimization of EUV lithography. By converting a limited number of absorbed EUV photons into a variable number of released migrating electrons, the resist becomes the final determinant of resolution. There are two kinds of resist which are seriously considered: chemically… Read More


Facing the Quantum Nature of EUV Lithography

Facing the Quantum Nature of EUV Lithography
by Fred Chen on 06-29-2025 at 8:00 am

Absorbed Photons Exposing EUV

The topics of stochastics and blur in EUV lithography has been examined by myself for quite some time now [1,2], but I am happy to see that others are pursuing this direction seriously as well [3]. As advanced node half-pitch dimensions approach 10 nm and smaller, the size of molecules in the resist becomes impossible to ignore for… Read More


A Perfect Storm for EUV Lithography

A Perfect Storm for EUV Lithography
by Fred Chen on 04-03-2025 at 6:00 am

EUV Made Easy 1

Electron blur, stochastics, and now polarization, are all becoming stronger influences in EUV lithography as pitch continues to shrink

As EUV lithography continues to evolve, targeting smaller and smaller pitches, new physical limitations continue to emerge as formidable obstacles. While stochastic effects have long been… Read More


CEO Interview with Jonas Sundqvist of AlixLabs

CEO Interview with Jonas Sundqvist of AlixLabs
by Daniel Nenni on 03-21-2025 at 6:00 am

04 AlixLabs portrait 211116

Jonas Sundqvist received his PhD in inorganic chemistry from Uppsala University, Department for Materials Chemistry at The Ångström Laboratory in 2003 where he developed ALD and CVD processes for metal oxide ALD and CVD processes using metal iodides. Jonas is in charge of the daily business at AlixLabs – as a co-founder, he’s… Read More


CEO Interview with Dinesh Bettadapur of Irresistible Materials

CEO Interview with Dinesh Bettadapur of Irresistible Materials
by Daniel Nenni on 03-12-2025 at 10:00 am

D. Bettadapur photo IM

Dinesh Bettadapur serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Irresistible Materials Ltd. Dinesh has over 20 years of executive management experience in the semiconductor industries and has held significant leadership roles encompassing general management, P&L management, sales, business development, strategic alliances,… Read More


Resist Loss Model for the EUV Stochastic Defectivity Cliffs

Resist Loss Model for the EUV Stochastic Defectivity Cliffs
by Fred Chen on 02-06-2025 at 10:00 am

Exposing EUV 1

The occurrences of notorious stochastic defects in EUV lithography have resulted in CD or corresponding dose windows with the lower and higher bounds being characterized as “cliffs” [1-3], since the defect density increases exponentially when approaching these bounds. The defects at lower doses have been attributed to the… Read More