manufacturing

A giant is ready to get into the market of chips manufacturing machines: LG Electronics

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The HBM memories market (High Bandwidth Memory) that work side by side with the GPUs for artificial intelligence (IA) Three companies lead it clearly: Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron Technology. Interestingly, memory chips are The South Korean economy engine Trade dependent. And Samsung and Sk Hynix are Companies that support this industry In this Asian country. In fact, these two South Korean companies compete with each other to master the lucrative HBM memory chips. AND They do not supply when it comes to manufacturing as many integrated circuits as their customers demand. The most important of all of them is, as we can intuit, Nvidia. The export of semiconductors in South Korea increases, but its chips stocks 33.7% fell in April of 2024 compared to the same period of 2023 according to the National Statistics Office. In any case, another South Korean company is ready to enter the market for integrated HBM memory circuits, although it will not compete with SK Hynix and Samsung. LG is preparing a unique machine to produce HBM memories Manufacturing integrated VAGUARD HBM circuits is not simple. The processes involved in the production of these chips are complex, and in them very advanced technologies are involved. SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron are manufacturing on a large scale, although with different success12 -layer HBM3E memories. The two South Korean firms will produce large -scale HBM4 chips during the second semester of 2025, and Micron will do so in 2026. However, CXMT (Changxin Memory Technologies), one of the Chinese companies specialized in the production of memoirs, will launch Your first HBM3E chips in 2027. The main quality of this equipment will be its ability to allow the stack of integrated circuits in a much more efficient way China has several memories manufacturers Important, but they currently do not have solutions capable of competing with the best of SK Hynix or Micron. This circumstance reminds us of how complex it is to manufacture latest generation HBM chips. LG Electronics is going to enter this marketbut you will not compete from you to you with memory chips manufacturers. The opposite; aspires to be your customers. Koo Kwang-Mo, the president of this company, has confirmed That its strategy is to participate in the hardware industry for AI, but it will make it marketing its own chips manufacturing equipment. In fact, LG is developing a machine that will be specifically designed to produce avant -garde HBM memories. According to this company, the main quality of this equipment will be its ability to allow the stack of integrated circuits in a much more efficient way than with the technologies currently available. In theory, the innovation in which LG engineers are working will contribute to the tuning of HBM memories of more capacity and with a lower heat dissipation index. LG plans go to make their HBM memories production team in 2028. The main manufacturers of these machines are the American company Applied Materials and the Dutch Besi, so these are The companies with which LG will compete If finally its memory semiconductor production machine comes to fruition. If so, it is likely that Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron are interested in their team, although it is also possible to apply materials or kiss forward to LG. In fact, SK Hynix and Samsung plan to introduce this technology this year. More information | Economic Seoul In Xataka | Chinese memory chips manufacturers are a nightmare for the US and South Korea. There is a lot at play

These are the chips that are capable of manufacturing without resorting to the most advanced Machine of ASML

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TSMC is not the largest semiconductor manufacturer on the planet by chance. Morris Chang He founded this veteran Taiwanese company in 1987, but his leadership took several years to consolidate. At that time the most important integrated circuit manufacturer was Intel, but The TSMC domain In this industry during the last two decades it is irrefatable. Today monopolizes approximately 60% of the market of the manufacture of integrated circuits, and nothing indicates that in the short term Intel or Samsung, its two main competitors, will be able to dispute your leadership. The success of this company has mainly based on its ability to manufacture large -scale chips using the most advanced integration technologies available and with a very high wafer performance. Here lies its very high competitiveness. And, in addition, he has managed to preserve this position for many years, which has helped him transmit confidence to his solid clients such as a rock. His economic performance is nothing other than a consequence of his career: in 2024 he entered 34% more than in 2023. TSMC claims to be able to bring asml UVE lithography equipment to the limit This integrated circuit manufacturer has confirmed that the tests of its 2 Nm node are being successful, so you can start the large -scale manufacture of semiconductors using this photolithography during the second semester of 2025. However, its medium -term plans do not end here. And is that at the end of last April advance During his North American Technological Conference that is also testing his next avant -garde integration technology. It will call it A14 (1.4 Nm), will enter large -scale production in 2028 and we already know some of its most interesting characteristics. Kevin Zhang ensures that TSMC does not need the ASML UVE High-Nna lithography team to make 1.4 Nm One of its most important spots will consist that you will use transistors Nanosheet Gaa (Gate-alall-around) Second generation. The first generation will arrive next to the Lithography N2 (2 Nm) this year. In addition, this integration technology will land with the promise to make possible the manufacture of integrated circuits with higher performance, higher energy efficiency and a more flexible design. The usual. However, TSMC, fortunately, has been wet and in its event some figures made public that allow us to assess to what extent the arrival of the A14 node will be important. And, according to this company, the integrated circuits produced with the A14 lithography will be 15% faster than the chips manufactured in the NEN N2 with the same consumption; They will reduce energy expenditure by 30% at the same speed, and, in addition, they will put on the table the possibility of increasing the density of logic by 20%. According to Kevin ZhangSenior Vice President and Deputy Director of Operations of TSMC, the A14 node will be attractive to make chips for consumption devices and for strictly professional applications, such as, for example, GPU for artificial intelligence (AI). There is no doubt that TSMC’s promises about their lithography A14 sound good, but there is more that we should not overlook. Zhang says that they will not use the equipment of extreme ultraviolet photolithography (UVE) and haute opening (High-na) that manufactures the Dutch company ASML in this node. This is a technical capacity exhibition. These machines, the most advanced that currently exist, are suitable for producing integrated circuits of 2 nm and beyond. In fact, The lithography 14a (1.4 Nm) It will be the first in which Intel will use the Uve High opening equipment of ASML. However, as we have just seen, TSMC says it can produce chips capable of dealing with comparable semiconductors of Intel and Samsung using conventional UVE equipment. 2025 will be the year in which the lithographs of 2 nm will start, and, therefore, it will be the prelude to a presumably even more bloody battle: that of the 1.4 Nm. Image | ASML More information | Tom’s hardware In Xataka | ASML’s new lithography team divides chips manufacturers. TSMC considers not using it until 2030

In his effort for national manufacturing, the US has threatened Samsung. It will serve as little

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Or Apple manufactures the iPhone in the United States, or the Trump administration will impose an additional 25%tariff. The last weeks of May are starring New threats to technology companiessome that They will serve as little in the case of Apple. As much as a new tariff is imposed, the company is still more profitable to manufacture in India than in the United States. It is not the only one under the spotlight. Trump has recently stated that “Samsung and any other that manufactures this product” (the smartphone) will face tariffs. The message is clear: if it is sold in the United States, you want to be manufactured in the United States. Samsung, under the spotlight. In the general photography of best -selling mobile brands in the world, there is not much beyond Chinese brands. Samsung and Apple are the main protagonists, with a minority participation of giants such as Google or Motorola. Trump has made it clear that all telephone manufacturer that manufactures out of the United States will have to face new tariffs. And there is not one that manufactures there. Vietnam as refuge. The history of the Samsung supply chain is one in which China ceased to be present more than ten years ago. The company made a strategic bet for Vietnam, its investments in the country in 2024 exceeded 220 million dollars, and employs more than 100,000 people in which, for years, it was its main refuge against the commercial war between China and the United States. The South Korean giant production chain is strategically diversified between countries such as Vietnam, South Korea, Brazil or Indonesia, having closed its last Chinese phone factories in 2019. The possible impact. Samsung is in a situation similar to Apple’s. Currently, plants in Vietnam are more than 50% of their global production volume. This country has a minimum labor costof just three dollars an hour in electronics. Moving the production chain to the United States is simply unassumable, due to labor costs, factor and R&D, degree of automation in Vietnamese production and lack of a pool of thousands of technicians willing to work in the shifts that make possible the current rhythm of Samsung in Vietnam. A tariff hurts, but less than moving the production chain. A 25% tariff would destroy the current margins of Samsung and force both to absorb a certain part of them and to raise the price of the product in the United States. It is still a better plan to allocate decades to rebuild from scratch an infrastructure and technical specialization in which they have been allocating millions of dollars for more than ten years. Image | Xataka In Xataka | Samsung had it difficult with its exynos processors. Google and Xiaomi have only aggravated their situation

Intel’s future is linked to the success of a single chip manufacturing node: 18A technology

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Intel is facing one of the most difficult stages Of all its history. And its story is not exactly brief. In fact, Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce founded this company more than half a century ago, in 1968. As we have explained in other articles, The future of factories and Intel chips packaging and validation centers is uncertain. However, it is possible that these facilities are finally incorporated into a joint company Managed by Intel, TSMCand, perhaps, by some other company of the integrated circuit industry. Anyway, the short -term competitiveness of this company is closely linked to the success of a single semiconductor manufacturing technology: 18A photolithography. Ben Sell, Vice President of Intel Technology Development, confirmed At the end of last September that the 18A node already has the maturity necessary to enter large -scale production in 2025. and also assured that it will benefit from the resources that have been reallocated since the 20A node. In the current scenario the 18A node will be the true protagonist. That is not the slightest doubt. More transistors. More performance. And less consumption This statement by Joseph Bonetti, main manager of Intel engineering programs, expresses very well The important thing that is the 18A node for this company: “Intel leaders, Board of Directors of Intel and Donald Trump administration, please do not sell or give the control of Intel Foundry to TSMC just when Intel is taking the technological front and starting to take off. It would be a terrible and demoralizing error.” Bonetti also maintains that Intel is not lagging for its competitors, and that the advances that their engineers are achieving in the field of chips production are very important. Bonetti does not expressly mention the 18A integration technology, but his statement is supported by it because right now is the asset that Intel has to compete with TSMC and Samsung in the market for the production of integrated circuits in a year in which 2 Nm photolithographies They will take off yes or yes. In the last months Intel has been revealing some of the characteristics of this integration technology, but just a few hours ago and as a prelude to the semiconductor conference ‘2025 Symposium on VLSI Technology and Circu has made public more interesting data. Powervia proposes to physically separate the feed lines and signal signal within each integrated circuit Lithography 18a is erected above all about two essential innovations: Ribbonfet Gate-Lall-Around (GAA) transistors and energy delivery technology Powervia. The purpose of this last improvement is to solve the limitations imposed by the introduction in the integrated circuit of smaller transistors, which are also together more. This scenario causes that within each chip the power lines and signal compete for the same resources, which triggers the appearance of bottlenecks that perceptibly limit the performance and energy efficiency of a CPU. The purpose of Powervia technology is precisely to solve this problem. And to achieve this, what proposes is to physically separate the power lines and signal signal. So far both lived in the same physical space, but From Intel 20A lithographythat It was commercially dismissed In September 2024, the distribution of transistors and food and signal will acquire the form of a sandwich. In this way the transistors will be housed in the center, while the feed lines will reside in a lower layer and those of signal in an upper layer. In any case, for us, the users, the most interesting thing is to know that Intel promises that their lithography 18a will deliver a 25% higher performance using the same voltage as the integration technology Intel 3, as well as a 36% lower energy consumption by using the same frequency and the same voltage. And by reducing this last parameter and moving from 1.1 volts to 0.75 volts, lithography 18a delivers a performance of 18% higher and a consumption of 38% lower. It sounds good, but we should not ignore that This information comes from Intel itself. Whether it is evident that we are interested in consumers that both Intel and TSMC or Samsung have the best state possible. Image | Intel More information | Intel In Xataka | Intel has confirmed that the 20A node will be skipped to reduce expenses. The 18A node will enter production in 2025

A critical component of current chips manufacturing machines

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The teams of extreme ultraviolet photolithography (UVE) that manufactures the Dutch company ASML are extraordinarily sophisticated. In fact, they are those currently using TSMC, Samsung, Intel, Sy Hynix and Micron Technology for produce integrated avant -garde circuits. They are so complex that during the first phases of their design in the early 90s of the last century, ASML engineers They believed it was impossible. However, everything changed in 1997. That year Jos Benschop, the leader of the research department, reassess whether UNVE technology was a viable option. After the first tests he realized that The German company Zeiss He was able to develop extraordinarily sophisticated mirrors that would be necessary to transport ultraviolet light. And he was not wrong. That was the real starting point of technology that has made it possible for our mobile phones and computers to have such advanced chips. Zeiss’s feat arrived in the 90s One of the most complex elements of UVE lithography machines is The ultraviolet light source. The company of American origin Cymer, although since 2013 it is not an independent company. That year ASML executives decided to buy it to accelerate the development of the technologies involved in UVE lithography. An interesting note: the ultraviolet light is responsible for transporting the geometric pattern described by the mask so that it can be transferred with a lot of precision to the surface of the silicon wafer. Understanding what is the mask is simple: it is nothing other than a physical template that contains the design of the integrated circuit that is necessary to transfer to the Silicon wafer. In any case, there is another component without whose intervention It is not possible to carry out this crucial task. Other components, in plural, in reality, although all of them are of the same type. It is precisely the mirrors that Jos Benschop suspected in 1997 that Zeiss could produce. The light of 11.4 nm was discarded because it forced to use beryllium in the mirrors and is a toxic chemical element The role of the optical elements of this company in these lithography equipment is crucial. And it is because they are responsible for moving the UVE light with a wavelength of 13.5 nm from the source that is responsible for its emission to the mask contained in the geometric pattern that is necessary to translate into the silicon wafer. If the mirrors involved in the propagation of the UVE light are not manufactured with enormous precision the geometric pattern defined by the mask will be altered, and the chips will be damaged. Interestingly, the choice of the wavelength of the UVE light used by these machines was a very delicate decision. Initially the engineers involved in their tuning had four possible options: 13.5 nm, 11.4 nm, 6.6 nm and 4.8 nm. These last two wavelengths were finally ruled out due to the limitations they imposed Organic photorestoning materials. The light of 11.4 Nm was also discarded because it forced to use beryllium in the mirrors, and is a toxic chemical element. The wavelength of 13.5 Nm required to introduce molybdenum and silicon mirrors, but these elements do not pose any problem. This is the reason why UVE machines work with this light. In any case, this data clearly reflects the extraordinary level of precision with which it is necessary to manufacture the mirrors: Zeiss uses argon ions and other elements to polish layer per layer at the atomic level the mirrors, and then identifies and corrects the defects using a subnustric analysis technique. This last tool is capable of detecting defects with a lower precision than a nanometer (less than a millmillonieth part of a meter). * Some price may have changed from the last review Image | Zeiss BIBLIOGRAPHY | ‘Focus: The Asml Way’by Marc Hijink More information | Zeiss | Asianometry In Xataka | 2024 has been a year full of uncertainty for chip designers. So much that the market has changed leader

The US is realizing that manufacturing the iPhone without China is almost impossible. Tariff exemptions are the test

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Donald Trump’s administration has applied a very special exemption to reciprocal tariffs announced The last days. Thus, mobile phones, computers and some other consumer electronics products “are fought”. Importing them to the United States will not make 10%global tariffs apply, nor China’s specific ones, which are 125%. What products are exempt. The note published by the US Customs Department almost without making noise is especially important, and makes a list of HTSUS codes (Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States) that include different types of electronic products. Among them, exemptions affect: 8471: PCS of desktop, laptops and its components, such as CPUS, hard or I/O peripheral discs as monitors (8528.52.00), mice and keyboards 8517.13.00: smartphones 8517.62.00: Routers, modems, wireless access points 8523.51.00: SSD units 8524: CDS and DVDS Regrabable 8541.49.10 and 8541.49.70: Solar panel cells 8541.49.80: LEDs 8542: microprocessors, controllers, memory chips and other integrated circuits But they are temporary exemptions. As they point out In Financial TimesUS Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, made it clear that these exemptions are temporary. All these products will be part of the semiconductor tariffs, “which will probably arrive in a month or two.” Trump denies that this are exemptions. In his social network Truth, Donald Trump He also stood out That what was announced on Friday were no exceptions to tariffs and made it clear that these products are still subject to 20% rates related to the fentanil. “What has been stated is that we need to manufacture products in the United States, and that we will not be hostages from other countries, especially hostile commercial nations such as China, which will do everything in their hand to disrespect the US people,” he added in his statement. Dodging price increases. The measure is clearly aimed at avoiding notable price increases in semiconductors, mobiles and consumer electronics products, especially considering that a vast majority of those sold in the United States They come from China. The impact for consumers can be very important, and these temporary exemptions reduce concern for the future of these products and their prices and protect strategic sectors. The iPhone as a great example. Some analysts estimate that the price of the iPhone in the United States It could triple If the cost of tariffs ends up moving to consumers. Apple smartphones are one of the clear examples of how tariffs would affect US consumers first and the rest of the world later. The climb of reciprocal tariffs between the US and China has been spectacular in recent weeks. Source: Reuters China as a US factory. According to Counterpoint Research dataChina represents 80% of the iPhone production sold in the United States. The remaining 20% ​​are manufactured in India, a country in which Apple is gradually growing in production precisely to avoid the dependence of China. The Cupertino company in fact fought several aircraft full of iPhone From India to try to have some margin of maneuver if tariffs came into force. Exemptions also disappear the “basic” 10% tariff that applied globally and included countries such as India. These exemptions are also partly the tacit recognition to manufacture the iPhone in the US It is practically impossible. Business pressure. The impact of tariffs has been especially remarkable for Big Tech, which have collapsed in the stock market in recent weeks. All of them depend largely on China’s production capacity, and these exemptions are also an acceptance (at least temporary) that changing things and mitigating Chinese dependence will take a long time. No official explanation. The US government did not explanations about the reason why it applied these exemptions, but it is evident that This is a big respiteeven if it is temporary, for companies such as Apple, Nvidia, Dell, or HP, which import a good part of their products from China. A war without winners. As they point out In axiosChinese President Xi Jinping stressed that a war of tariffs “will not produce any winner.” China indicated that I was evaluating the impact of these exemptions. In a statement last Sunday, the Chinese Ministry of Trade Califified the measure as “a small US step to correct its wrong practice of establishing ‘unilateral reciprocal tariffs.” How will we be next week? Democrate Senator Elizabeth Warren appeared in a debate In CNN to describe the confusion that exists about tariffs. He indicated that “investors will not invest in the US with Donald Trump playing” red light, green light “with tariffs and saying” Oh, and For my special donors, you have special exemptions“. He also highlighted how the situation is impresable.” No one can imagine what the rules will be within five days, much less in five years. “ Image | Gage Skidmore In Xataka | Spain acts where Europe doubts: the strategy that is paying fruits in China

Manufacturing the iPhone 16 Pro of 256 GB in China costs 550 dollars today. With tariffs it will cost $ 850

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The Donald Trump tariffs They are about to unleash A global commercial warand one of the most obvious consequences is clear: everything will cost more. The question, of course, is how much more, and for that we have a good example of reference: Apple’s iPhone, which takes years Trying to diversify your logistics and manufacturing. Goodbye to the iphone of 999 departure dollars? We have been for almost a decade during which Apple has always maintained the starting price of its best iPhone, which was always at $ 999. There were sections with which the firm played to maintain that bar, such as storage capacity, but That price label was consistent. Now it can stop being. Tariffs in sight. Apple manufactures a good part of the iPhone in China, and there the total tariffs will be 54%, a spectacular figure that threatens notable price increases for iPhone. Other Apple products are manufactured in others Asian countries like India (25% of tariffs), Vietnam (46%), Malaysia (24%), Thailand (37%) or Indonesia (32%). Price increases seem practically inevitable. This is hard to make an iPhone now. A study of The Wall Street Journal He points out how the iPhone 16 Pro of 256 GB has a “material bill” of 550 dollars according to data from the Wayne Lam analyst in Techinsights. If we add the assembly and test costs the cost rises to $ 580. And this is what can cost with tariffs. But if we take into account the tariffs that theoretically apply to products imported from China, the iPhone would leave 54% more expensive, which places that cost of 550 dollars in $ 850. The difference is brutal, and obviously Apple would be forced to break the tradition and raise the starting price of these devices. And there is no easy solution (and less in the short term). Dontald Trump’s apparent obsession with tariffs makes potential negotiations They probably don’t get to anything. Apple could manufacture its iPhone in the US, but you can’t do something like that from morning to night, and the firm will have to adapt its prices worldwide. And manufacturing in the US would also be much more expensive. Migrating production to the US does not guarantee that the problem is solved. According to LAM, labor to assemble the mobile that costs $ 30 could cost $ 300 in the United States. And if each component also rises in price, the final cost of the device could become prohibitive for many people. In fact, the alternative you start talking about is Iphones subscriptions. If you have to upload prices, they will upload them. Apple will not shake your pulse when rising prices. They have done it in the past. It happened in 2022 in Japan when Yen was especially weakFor example. That same year we had some that came out especially expensive for inflation. The first harmed by all these circumstances will undoubtedly use users. The iPhone as a terrifying example of everything else. The example of the iPhone manufacturing price increase is an excellent and terrifying example of what can happen with any consumption product that is manufactured in China and wants to be sold in the US. Although it seems that the problem should only affect them, it actually affects everyone: if Apple or any other firm raises the prices of their products for tariffs, it will do it proportionally in all the countries in which it sells them. In Xataka | A 54%tariff, an iPhone of $ 2,300 and no easy output for Apple

It is its grounding chips manufacturing technology

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The American Blackrockthe largest investment company in the world, is very interested in a very little known emerging company dedicated to the manufacture of Quantum computers. According to ReutersPsychantum, which is what is the name of this Startuphe has raised At least 750 million dollars Through an ambitious financing round in which Blackrock seems to have brought the singing voice, but has not yet concluded. That this gigantic investment company is interested in the business of a company dedicated to quantum computers is not striking. The surprising thing is that your attention has fallen to a Startup Very little known. However, it is enough to investigate the psychantum strategy to intuit where Blackrock’s interest comes from. And this is not a small research company in quantum machines. Not much less. Psychantum already produces quantum chips thanks to its alliance with Globalfoundries There is a very obvious difference between Psychantum’s strategy and that of other large companies which are also investing in the development of quantum computers. Google and IBM have opted for superconductor cubits. Ionq and Honeywell, however, produce quantum machines with ion traps cubits. But Psychantum does not use any of these technologies. His philosophy It looks much more like that of Intel than to the companies that I just mentioned. It is possible to manufacture semiconductor cubits using materials very similar to those used to produce conventional chips Intel and Qutech, the Institute for Specialized Research in Quantum Computing that belongs to the Technical University of Delft, in the Netherlands, They demonstrated just a year ago that it is possible to manufacture semiconductor cubits through industrial procedures and using materials very similar to those used for produce conventional chipslike silicon oxide. Psychantum has also achieved it. In fact, he has forged an alliance with one of The main semiconductor manufacturers From the planet: the American firm Globalfoundries. And, apparently, together they are working on the development of the technology of Fotonic silicon to apply it to the production of integrated circuits endowed with quantum properties. This strategy has a very evident advantage against the production of cubits that require exotic materials: it allows to manufacture quantum processors with much more simplicity. In fact, It is feasible to produce them on a large scale through industrial procedure. This is precisely the Psychantum and Globalfoundries Plan. However, there is something else. On paper, semiconductor quantum chips have the ability to facilitate scaling in the number of cubits. And gathering more cubits in a single quantum processor is important not only to have more calculation capacity, but also to make possible the arrival of the first chips of this type equipped with the ability to amend their own mistakes. All this is what is at stake. There is no doubt that Blackrock knows very well where he gets. Image | Psychantum More information | Reuters In Xataka | After triumphing with its chips for AI, Nvidia has set another disruptive technology: quantum computers

Figure creates a system to make large -scale humanoid robots. And of course, there will be robots manufacturing robots

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We had something forgotten to robots, but for A few months We don’t stop to return to hear about them. There are important efforts from companies such as Nvidia – who just put All meat on the grill-, Boston Dynamics or Teslabut there is another company that is pushing strong in this sector. It is called Figure, and has just announced a promising project. Botq. This is the name of the mass manufacturing platform of humanoid robots Announced by Figure. The idea is simple: to create a totally oriented infrastructure to that production of high volumes of robots that end up being used in all types of scenarios. 12,000 humanoid robots per year. The first generation of Botq will be able to produce 12,000 humanoid robots a year, but the company highlights that this is only the beginning “and we will climb considerably from there.” Manufacture with vertical integration. The company will control the construction process and its quality to ensure that the robots that end in the market have according to them the highest quality. They have also been working on software solutions for months to attend these high volume manufacturing processes. Robots building robots. The Humanoid Robots of Figure They already caught our attention last summer, and now these robots will participate in the manufacture of other humanoid robots. That, they say, will happen this year, but in addition “the number of humanoid robots involved (in manufacturing) will grow substantially over time to increase the automation of production lines.” By the way: Elon Musk has an identical idea. Figure 03 on the way. Its current humanoid robot was complex both in necessary elements and in manufacturing processes, but with it they have learned how they can reduce the number of components and how to improve production. And more efficient processes. Thus, instead of CNC machines they will use techniques such as injection molding or pressure foundry that allow “thousands of hours of manufacturing.” In fact, in some components that needed a week to be manufactured with CNC machines, times have gone from only 20 seconds. Image | Figure In Xataka | China’s robots represent an existential threat to the US, according to semi -health experts

Within the most advanced chips manufacturing machines there is something incredible: small supernovae

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Identifying a Supernova is an event that astronomers usually celebrate with enthusiasm. And it is not for less if we consider that they are One of the most violent events with which we can run into the cosmos. Knowing them better is very important because it can help us understand more precision How are the latest stages of The life of mass starsand also the mechanisms that explain how the material caused by stellar synthesis can lead to new star systems. The mathematical tools handled by astrophysics current nuclear fusion that take place in the nucleus of mass stars. During the stage known as the main sequence, stars obtain their energy from the fusion of hydrogen nuclei. As this chemical element is consumed, the star begins to produce helium nuclei, and, of course, its composition begins to evolve. During this process a huge amount of energy is released and the star is forced to continuously readjust to maintain hydrostatic balance, a phenomenon that is the result of the coexistence of two opposite forces capable of compensating. One of them is the gravitational contraction, which compresses the subject of the star, pressing it without rest. And the other is the radiation and gase pressure, which is the fruit of the ignition of the nuclear oven and tries to expand the star. The small supernovae of the extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment As we have anticipated from the holder, this article does not go only from Supernovas; It is also starred by the semiconductors. A priori we can intuit that these cosmic events and integrated circuits have nothing to do, but, curiously, they do have something in common. This is the reason why I found a good idea to start this text reviewing what a supernova is and why they occur. Otherwise we could not understand in all its extension the idea in which we are about to investigate. The ultraviolet radiation generation process used by UVE lithography equipment is very similar to what happens during a Supernova In the teams of extreme ultraviolet lithography (UVE) that manufactures the Dutch company ASML, high power lasers instantly heat tens of thousands of tiny tin drops in a single second until they reach a temperature of half a million Celsius degrees. This interaction produces An extremely hot plasma that emits ultraviolet light with a wavelength of 13.5 nm. This light must later be transported to the wafer thanks to a very precise mirrors and lenses system with the purpose of capturing the patterns that define the integrated circuits on a layer of photorers. Very broadly this is the strategy used by the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing machines that currently exist. And, as we have just seen, high -power lasers interpret an unquestionably protagonist role. As Jays Stewart, Chief of Research at ASML, explains in the very interesting article he has published in IEEE Spectrumthe ultraviolet radiation generation process used by UVE lithography equipment to produce avant -garde chips is very similar to what happens during a supernova. When a massive star exhausts its fuel and stops nuclear fusion processes, radiation pressure and gases is no longer able to counteract gravitational contraction. This phenomenon causes the star iron core It suddenly contracts under the enormous pressure that all layers of material that it has above. The star has lost the hydrostatic balance. At this moment all this matter loses the support that the nucleus exercised, which is now much more compact, and falls on it with enormous speed. When all that star material touches the surface of the nucleus there is a rebound effect that causes it to be fired with a huge energy towards the stellar medium, being disseminated. A supernova has just been produced. Some of them are so energetic that for a few seconds they emit more light than the entire galaxy that contains them. The tiny explosions that take place inside the UVE lithography equipment when a laser affects a tin drop produce a shock wave similar to that originating in the stellar medium, although much smaller scale. Surprisingly the mathematical equations that describe the evolution of these two types of explosions are the same. ASML engineers use them to calculate very precisely how the evolution of the shock wave that triggers plasma balls within the UVE equipment will be. And astrophysicians use them to describe the remains of the supernovas and deduce the properties of the star explosion that originated them. A Supernova has 10⁴⁵ times more energy That an explosion of tin, but thanks to this parallel, ASML engineers have been able to solve the complex problem derived from tin residues inside their most advanced lithography equipment. Image | ASML More information | IEEE Spectrum In Xataka | ‘Focus: The Asml Way’: The book that reveals the secrets of the most powerful European company in the chips industry

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