In the industry, than Intel, TSMC, Samsung also early access to ASML lithography new products is the Belgian Microelectronics Research Center (IMEC), although not very famous, but in fact it is the world’s largest specialized semiconductor research institutions. Because of the proximity, ASML’s prototype trial machine, often in the completion of the first time sent to IMEC to assess the taste.
He urged ASML to put high NA lithography into full production in the next 3 years.
The so-called high NA is also the lithography lens and reflector numerical aperture of 0.55, which increases the lithography resolution in order to prepare more precise for the circuit image. The current EUV lithography machine are stuck at 0.33 level.
If all goes well, ASML will launch its first high NA EUV lithography next year, Intel, Samsung and TSMC are scrambling to be the first to deploy into the factory, of which Intel is the fastest.
The lithography machine is worth up to $ 400 million (about 2.6 billion yuan), the volume of the assembled double-decker bus, weighing more than 200 tons.
