ASML sells production-ready EUV chip machines to TSMC
ASML has announced that it has sold two NXE:3350B chip machines based on EUV lithography technology to TSMC. These are the first euv machines that TSMC will use for production. The chip company already had test machines.
The euv machines, where euv stands for extreme ultraviolet light, are used to etch complex circuit patterns on chips. The euv technology should follow the current immersion lithography in chip production. Chip machine builder ASML delivered the first euv systems last year to Intel, Samsung and TSMC, among others. The latter has now placed another major order: TSMC will receive two new euv machines from the NXE:3350B series next year. The devices cost 70 million euros each. In addition, ASML will upgrade two NXE:3300B series machines previously delivered to TSMC. These machines were primarily intended to test the technology, while the NXE:3350B will serve as actual production systems.
According to ASML, the chip technology based on EUV lithography technology is on the rise as more and more companies order EUV devices. Euv enables even smaller structures on a chip, which means that the transistor density can be increased even further. The technology is not only applicable for processors, but also for dram and nand chips.
ASML believes that thanks to the euv technology, Moore’s law will continue to apply for the next ten years. That law roughly states that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit doubles every two years. The company also expects the deep UV technology to be used to develop multi-layer processors. Furthermore, chip production could be performed more efficiently thanks to ASML’s holistic lithography production methods.
In addition to announcing a new order for its EUV chip machines, ASML also expects turnover to grow strongly in the coming years. In 2020 this should even be around 10 billion euros, almost doubling the turnover of 5.2 billion euros last year.
According to ASML, the use of euv will be cost-effective by 2016 or 2017. In October, ASML announced a partnership with a customer to deploy euv mid-node in 10nm chip manufacturing by the end of 2016. ASML then said it expected to ship six NXE:3350B machines by mid-2015.