XIVER adds ASML DUV lithography to its Eindhoven foundry

The deep ultraviolet (DUV) stepper will complement XIVER’s existing i-line lithography equipment, according to a press release from the company. XIVER says it will be the only mid-sized pure-play foundry to offer DUV lithography in-house. The new tool will allow XIVER to produce finer and more precisely aligned structures than its current equipment, including double-sided patterning of wafers and sub-micron 3D micromachining.

“The new DUV tool opens up device structures that were previously beyond the practical limits of our lithography capabilities,” said Joost van Beek, CTO of XIVER. “In photonics, it supports better-defined waveguide geometries, lower propagation losses and tighter bend radii. As these designs move beyond the prototype stage, the same capabilities help deliver the consistency and repeatability required for high-value products with increasingly fine features.”

Besides photonic components such as waveguides and meta-optics for short-wave infrared, the stepper is suited to microfabricated devices built on top of CMOS wafers, such as sensor structures. XIVER will be able to create sub-micron features both in standard materials such as silicon and silicon nitride, and in less common ones such as gold and thin-film lithium niobate.

“We believe our manufacturing model is successful because we engage with customers very early in their design process,” said XIVER CEO, Wil van de Wiel. “Adding DUV lithography expands the capabilities we bring to those engagements, giving customers more freedom to develop differentiated designs while maintaining a clear path to scalable manufacturing.”

XIVER was carved out of Philips at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven and acquired by Dutch investors in early 2025. Since then, it has been expanding its manufacturing capabilities in line with its customers’ roadmaps and expected capacity needs.