ASML announces Hyper NA EUV lithography machine for mass production of 0.2nm process

ASML delivered the world's first High NA EUV extreme ultraviolet lithography machine to Intel at the end of last year. At the same time, it is researching a more powerful Hyper NA EUV lithography machine, which is expected to advance the semiconductor process to around 0.2nm, or 2 angstroms.

The aperture value of ASML's first-generation Low NA EUV lithography machine is only 0.33, and the corresponding product is named NXE series, including the existing 3400B/C, 3600D, 3800E, and the future 4000F, 4200G, and 4X00.

The series is expected to be able to mass-produce 2nm by 2025, and multiple exposures will have to be added after that. It is expected to achieve mass production of 1.4nm by 2027.

The High NA lithography machine has been upgraded to 0.55, corresponding to the EXE series of products, including the existing 5000, 5200B, and the future 5400, 5600, and 5X00.

They will start from a process below 2nm. Intel's first launch will be 14A 1.4nm. It is expected that 1nm will be mass-produced by around 2029. With multiple exposures, 0.5nm can be mass-produced around 2033, and at least 0.7nm can be supported.

The next Hyper NA lithography machine is expected to reach 0.75 or even higher and will be launched around 2030. The corresponding product will be named HXE series.

ASML estimates that the Hyper AN lithography machine may be able to achieve mass production of 0.2nm or even more advanced processes, but it is not completely certain at present.

It is worth mentioning that the diameter of a single silicon atom is about 0.1nm, but the process nodes mentioned above are not the actual physical sizes of transistors. They are just equivalent terms based on a certain percentage improvement in performance and energy efficiency.

For example, for the 0.2nm process, the actual transistor metal pitch is about 16-12nm, and will continue to shrink to 14-10nm.

Low/High/Hyper lithography machines will share a single EUV platform, and a large number of modules will be interchangeable with each other, greatly reducing R&D, manufacturing and deployment costs.

However, the price of a single High NA lithography machine is already as high as about 350 million euros, and the price of Hyper NA lithography machines will inevitably continue to increase significantly, and they are getting closer and closer to the physical limit. Therefore, no matter from the technical or cost perspective, no one knows what will happen to Hyper NA after this.

Kurt Ronse, project director of the Imec Microelectronics Research Center, said pessimistically: "It is unimaginable that the device components are only 0.2nm in size, which is only equivalent to the width of two atoms. Perhaps at some point, the existing lithography technology will inevitably end."