According to Reuters, ASML researchers have developed a method to increase the power of the light source in extreme ultraviolet lithography machines to 1,000 watts, rising from the current 600 watts. This technological breakthrough is projected to enable chipmakers to produce up to 50% more chips per machine by the end of the decade. The development allows ASML to target a throughput of roughly 330 silicon wafers per hour by 2030, a significant increase from the current processing rate of approximately 220 wafers per hour.
The company holds the position of the world’s sole manufacturer of commercial EUV lithography systems, which are essential for producing the most advanced semiconductors. Due to the strategic importance of these tools, U.S. administrations have coordinated with Dutch officials to restrict the export of EUV technology to China. The machines generate extreme ultraviolet light at a 13.5-nanometer wavelength by firing streams of molten tin droplets into a chamber. High-powered carbon dioxide lasers strike these droplets, creating plasma that is hotter than the sun’s surface and emits the necessary light for chip manufacturing.
The recent breakthrough in light source power stems from a significant modification to the plasma generation process. ASML doubled the rate of tin droplets to approximately 100,000 per second. Additionally, the engineering team replaced the single laser pulse used in current generation machines with two smaller, sequential laser pulses. This dual-pulse approach is designed to create the plasma more efficiently and manage the energy release required for the higher wattage output.
Michael Purvis, ASML’s lead technologist for the EUV light source, emphasized the practical readiness of the technology during an interview at the company’s California facilities. “It’s not a parlor trick or something like this, where we demonstrate for a very short time that it can work,” Purvis stated. “It’s a system that can produce 1,000 watts under all the same requirements that you could see at a customer.” The validation of the system under customer-grade requirements indicates the stability needed for high-volume manufacturing environments.
Reaching the 1,000-watt threshold required mastering complex scientific principles. Jorge J. Rocca, a professor at Colorado State University who specializes in laser technologies and has trained several ASML scientists, commented on the difficulty of the achievement. “It’s very challenging, because you need to master many things, many technologies,” Rocca said. He added, “What was achieved — one kilowatt — is pretty amazing.” This external validation underscores the technical hurdles involved in advancing plasma physics for industrial applications.
The push for higher power is occurring amidst a competitive landscape where access to EUV technology is geopolitically sensitive. In the United States, venture capital has flowed into startups attempting to create alternatives to ASML’s monopoly. Companies such as Substrate and xLight have collectively raised hundreds of millions of dollars. Notably, xLight received federal funding during the Trump administration to pursue the development of light source technologies. Meanwhile, China has initiated a national strategy to construct domestic EUV systems, though current assessments place their progress 10 to 15 years behind ASML’s capabilities.
Teun van Gogh, executive vice president for the NXE line of EUV machines at ASML, linked the increased power output directly to economic benefits for major semiconductor manufacturers. The power boost aims to keep costs down for customers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Intel. “We’d like to make sure that our customers can keep on using EUV at a much lower cost,” van Gogh explained. Higher throughput allows fabs to spread the high capital costs of EUV equipment over a larger volume of processed wafers.
Looking ahead, ASML leadership sees a defined roadmap for further improvements based on the techniques used to achieve the 1,000-watt milestone. Purvis indicated that the current advancements provide the foundation for future power increases. “We see a reasonably clear path toward 1,500 watts, and no fundamental reason why we couldn’t get to 2,000 watts,” he said. This suggests that the scalability of the light source technology has not yet reached its theoretical limits.
