ASML

Remember when state-of-the-art tech was DVDs, digital cameras and dial-up? 📀 📸 ☎️ Thirty years ago, when most people were being introduced to personal computers and home internet, we were looking to the future. We knew that demand for more powerful chips was only going to grow – and that we’d need new lithography technology to make it happen. Developing extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography took decades of determination. Here are six memorable years from our EUV journey: 🧠 In 1997, we hired Jos Benschop, now ASML’s Executive Vice President of Technology, to kick off our EUV program. 🔧 In 2006, our two prototype EUV systems – known as Alpha Demo Tools – arrived at our research partners’ facilities. 🧑🏭 In 2010, we shipped our first pre-production EUV system, the TWINSCAN NXE:3100, for R&D on future advanced technology nodes. 🏭 In 2017, we started shipping TWINSCAN NXE:3400 systems intended for high-volume chip manufacturing. 📱 In 2019, the first products containing EUV-enabled chip technology hit the market. 💥 In 2023, we opened the door for further shrink – and next-generation chips – with the shipment of our first High NA EUV system. And we’re still innovating our way to more milestones in the years to come. 💫

What keeps your devices running smoothly behind the scenes? 📱 From smartphones to home appliances, mature chips handle essential tasks like energy control, signal processing and detection. And their demand is only growing. Swipe through to learn more about how mature chips quietly power our daily lives...

How much would you pay to have the latest chip in your smartphone? 📱 Chipmakers rely on high-volume manufacturing to drive down the cost of cutting-edge chips so those chips can make it into the smartphones, computers and other devices we use every day. Read about the role lithography throughput plays in keeping chip technology affordable. 👇

When it comes to chip patterning, what you see on your blueprint isn’t always what you get on the wafer. As light carries a chip pattern through a lithography system from the blueprint, or mask, to the silicon wafer, optical effects deform pattern. One way we make sure the pattern prints correctly on the wafer is through mask optimization: designing masks with extra features that correct for deformations ahead of time so chip patterns appear exactly as intended on the wafer. Mask optimization requires models informed by physical understanding and algorithms powered by machine learning and other data science techniques. It’s a pillar of our holistic lithography approach and an essential part of how we keep powering technology forward with you.

What do lithography systems and the sun have in common? They both generate extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light. ☀️ Before we can harness EUV light to print microchips, we have to produce it – and that means creating some out-of-this-world conditions. Here are four unbelievable stats about our EUV light source: ⏰ Every second, a nozzle shoots 50,000 molten tin droplets into the source’s chamber. 💧 The tin droplets in the source are 25 microns across – just 1/3 the width of a human hair. ⚡ The 25 kilowatt laser we use to vaporize the tin droplets is more powerful than industrial lasers used to cut thick metal slabs. 💥 When the laser vaporizes a tin droplet, the plasma it creates is nearly 220,000 degrees Celsius. That’s almost 40x hotter than the surface of the sun! And that’s all before the light hits the optics. Can you think of any other tech that’s playing in our league?

📢 Hot off the press: We just published our 2024 Annual Report! From High NA EUV systems being installed at customer sites to growing our global workforce, and from strengthening our commitment to communities to increasing ocean freight transport, 2024 was a year of progress and impact. 🚀 And for the first time, our Annual Report includes sustainability statements in accordance with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). See the highlights here 👇

Congratulations to Seiji Nagahara , Head of Technical Marketing at ASML Japan, on being named one of SPIE’s new fellows for 2025! 🎉 Before joining ASML, Seiji worked on marketing and development of next-generation coater and developer tools as Senior Director and Senior Chief Engineer at Tokyo Electron. His expertise spans a wide range of advanced lithography technologies, including photolithography across the ultraviolet spectrum. Through his research, he's collaborated with institutions across the globe, including Toshiba, imec, the University of California, Berkeley, and Argonne National Laboratory. 🌎 The appointment recognizes Seiji’s technical achievements and contributions to the optics and photonics community, and it was acknowledged during this week’s SPIE Advanced Lithography symposium.

How do AI models learn, adapt and make decisions? 🧠 They rely on data – lots and lots of data. When it comes to hardware, that means AI chips need to be able to quickly move that enormous amount of data between memory and processing cores. Learn about how high-bandwidth memory will enable the next generation of AI computing. 👇

Our industry is coming together for #SPIElitho and ASML will be there in force, including a keynote by our CEO! 📆 🥳 Next week's SPIE Advanced Lithography symposium in San Jose, California, is a key moment for sharing knowledge and driving the industry’s innovation through 2030 and beyond. We have dozens of presentations, research papers and courses covering our own research and our collaborative work with peers, partners and customers. And co-chairing the event's Optical and EUV Nanolithography Conference is Claire van Lare, one of our own systems engineers. A few highlights 📣 : 🗝️ Our CEO, Christophe Fouquet , will give a plenary talk highlighting how extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and holistic lithography are continuing to enable Moore’s Law. 🖥️ Alberto Pirati, senior director of product management, explains how the AI revolution is redefining what chipmakers need from their lithography systems. 📐 Gerben Hopman, project lead for deep ultraviolet (DUV) imaging, explores the challenges of pushing performance in DUV lithography. ⚡ Qiushi Zhu, EUV source systems engineer, outlines how improvements to the EUV light source architecture are driving a steady increase in power. 🧠 Wendi Zhang, senior engineer for electron beam inspection, discusses the role ASML’s multiple e-beam inspection systems can play in manufacturing of state-of-the-art memory chips.

ASML's Sunny Stalnaker has received the 2025 SEMI Sales and Marketing Excellence Award at SEMICON Korea. 🎉 In the early 2010s, EUV (extreme ultraviolet) lithography had not yet bridged the gap between fundamental science and systems engineering. Sunny played a key role in addressing this challenge by facilitating our 2012 EUV Customer Co-Investment Program with TSMC, Intel and Samsung. The program ensured the resources, collaboration and funding needed for EUV to turn the corner. It also drove the industrialization of EUV and the massive effort to prepare it for volume production. Sunny's vision has resulted in pivotal contributions to ASML, to our customers and to the entire industry, helping to ensure the continuation of Moore’s Law. 🚀