ASML unveils EUV light source upgrade to boost chip output by 50% by 2030

ASML is the only company producing commercial EUV lithography equipment, sometimes dubbed "the world’s most important machine", used by chipmakers such as TSMC and Intel to manufacture advanced chips.

According to Michael Purvis, ASML’s lead technologist for EUV light sources, the new system can sustain 1,000 watts of EUV power under the same operational requirements used by customers. “It’s not a parlour trick,” Purvis said in an interview with Reuters at ASML’s California facility.

The power increase from 600 to 1,000 watts allows chipmakers to reduce exposure times on silicon wafers, effectively increasing the number of chips produced per hour and lowering per-unit costs. Teun van Gogh, executive vice president of the NXE line at ASML, told Reuters that customers could process about 330 wafers per hour on each machine by 2030, compared with 220 currently. Depending on chip size, each wafer can contain scores to thousands of individual devices.

ASML’s EUV machines operate by projecting light with a wavelength of 13.5 nanometers onto silicon wafers coated with photoresist. The light is generated by superheating tin droplets into plasma using carbon dioxide lasers. The new technique doubles the number of tin droplets to around 100,000 per second and shapes them into plasma with two laser bursts instead of one, according to Reuters.

EUV machines are critical to advanced chip production. Governments in the US have collaborated with Dutch authorities to restrict exports of ASML’s equipment to China, prompting Chinese initiatives to develop domestic alternatives.