We already know what the chips that will arrive until 2039 will be. The machine that will manufacture them is close

If everything goes as planned Intel will have its lithography 14a (1.4 Nm) List in 2026. It will be the first integration technology of this company that will use the equipment of extreme ultraviolet photolithography (UVE) and AL ASML opening. TSMC and Samsung have already confirmed that They will also bet on this machinebut for now it is Intel who carries the lead. In fact, it has been about a year and a half Testing it in its Hillsboro plant (USA).

The engineers of the Dutch Company ASML have invested a decade in the development of the technology necessary to put this machine ready, which, in reality, is a high -generation extreme ultraviolet lithography team. This company of the Netherlands plans to deliver to its customers annually from 2025 about 20 teams of this type with one purpose: put in their hands the possibility of producing 2 nm chips And beyond. Much further.

After the High-no lithography equipment, the Hyper-NA machines will arrive

To develop the UVE Lithography team (EUV high-na for its acronym in English) ASML engineers have put a very advanced optical architecture that has an opening of 0.55 compared to the 0.33 value that the first generation UVE lithography equipment has. This refinement of the optics allows to transfer to the wafer patterns of greater resolution, hence it is possible to manufacture chips using more advanced integration technologies than those currently used in the nodes of 2 and 3 Nm.

In the article we dedicate to Rayleight criteria We explain in a lot of detail what the ‘Na’ parameter consists (Numerical Aperture), But in this text it is enough for us to know that this variable identifies The opening value of the optics Used by the lithographic equipment. In this context this parameter essentially reflects the same as the opening value when we talk about The optics of a photo cameraso it conditions the amount of light that the optical elements They are able to collect. As we can intuit, the more light gathens, the better.

However, this is not all. ASML has also improved the mechanical systems that are responsible for the manipulation of wafers with the purpose of making it possible for a single UVE Machine to be able to produce more than 200 wafers per hour. This benefit is very important for semiconductor manufacturers because it deeply conditions its competitiveness.

If we want to investigate to show what is beyond the Uve haute opening teams, the ideal is that we turn to Imec, an integrated circuit research center founded in 1984 and lodged in Leuven (Belgium). It is the most experienced laboratory in the tuning of new integration technologies that we have in Europe. In fact, their engineers work side by side with ASML technicians.

The slide we publish on top of these lines contains a lot of interesting information. According to IMEC in 2035 integrated circuit manufacturers will begin large -scale production of 3 angstroms chips (0.3 Nm). This milestone is very important because presumably these will be the first semiconductors made of UVE lithography equipment Hyper-na In which Asml is already working. However, of course, these machines will not arrive that year; They will be ready much earlier. That will be the time when Chips manufacturers will start large -scale production, but possibly this machine will be prepared at the end of this decade.

Whatever the interesting thing is that the opening of the optics of these avant -garde lithography equipment will be, again according to IMEC, of ​​0.75 in the face of the opening of 0.55 of the UVE machines of high opening, or 0.33 in the conventional UVE equipment, as we have seen a few lines above. In any case, the itinerary of this laboratory anticipates that In 2037 the integrated circuits of 2 angstroms will arriveand in 2039 chips manufacturers will pass this barrier and go beyond the 2 angstroms. It seems science fiction, but it is not. It’s just science.

Image | IMEC

More information | IMEC

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