Has Huawei invented a tech to bypass EUV lithography?
Reports say Huawei Technologies has achieved a breakthrough that will enable it to design advanced chips without the need for extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines.
According to Bloomberg, the Chinese tech firm has filed patents for a self-aligned quadruple patterning (SAQP) technique. This enables the patterning of transistors on to silicon wafers, which is normally performed by EUV.
It says Huawei worked with state-backed SiCarrier to file a patent that uses deep ultraviolet lithography (DUV) alongside SAQP to attain benchmarks that are comparable to 5 nanometer chips.
If the speculation is true, it will strike a huge blow for the Chinese chip industry since ASML, the world's leading EUV firm, is banned from selling its equipment to Chinese firms by US export controls.
China's reliance on ASML was evident in December, when imports of lithography equipment from the Netherlands surged by 1050% to $1.1 billion as local firms rushed to buy equipment ahead of the incoming restrictions.
