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Definition: EUV machine


(Extreme UltraViolet machine) The photolithographic step and scan machine that is used in state-of-the-art chip manufacturing. The machine generates extreme ultraviolet light and beams it through a photomask to create patterns on the layer of photoresist film coated on the wafer.

More than a hundred wafers can be processed in an hour. The photomask (reticle) covers only a small number of chips at one time, thus the wafer has to be moved under the lens many times (stepped) to complete the operation for a single layer. At each step, the reticle is scanned, hence the name "step and scan" machine or "scanner." See ASML, reticle, ultraviolet light, computational lithography and chip manufacturing.

ASML Makes Them
It is said these EUV machines are the most complicated commercial product humanity has ever built, and ASML is the only manufacturer that makes them. However, with help from former ASML engineers, China is on its way to creating a Chinese version.

Using tens of thousands of parts from hundreds of vendors, the machines are the size of a city bus. They weigh in around 180 tons and cost $300 million and more. The massive weight is required to keep the machine steady as it moves the wafer quickly to its next position while maintaining an accuracy of two nanometers. Each layer in the chip must be aligned perfectly over the previous one (see angstrom era).








Generating and Focusing EUV Light
To create the required EUV light, two lasers bombard tin droplets 50,000 times per second to produce a plasma with a 13.5 nm wavelength. It is higher in frequency than visible light but lower than x-rays. This laser system reaches a power level of 20 thousand watts and is so large that it typically resides in a whole floor below. A raft of Carl Zeiss optics guides the light from source to destination. (Images courtesy of ASML.)





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