China Shows EUV Prototype – Mass Production Years Away

At Langdao Silex's booth at the 26th China International Industry Fair (CIIF), there is a device that is not yet finished: a laser system that bombards tin droplets up to 20,000 times per second. The company is only two years old, and it wants to supply a suitable light source for domestic lithography systems.

The principle follows the market leader ASML. A laser hits a tin droplet, the tin becomes so hot that it turns into plasma, and this plasma emits extreme ultraviolet light. This light, with a wavelength of 13.5 nanometers at ASML, is directed by numerous mirrors onto a mask carrying the transistor patterns, and from there projected onto the silicon wafer. Each mirror element absorbs light, which is why only a few watts reach the wafer. At ASML, the laser, a CO₂ laser from Trumpf, boosts an initial output of a few watts through five amplifier stages to 40,000 watts. The result is 600 watts of EUV light output, and the entire construction weighs more than 17 tonnes.

The Chinese prototype, the FlintNano LPP-OXXO, reaches more than 15 watts of EUV output. Whether this figure is comparable remains open: the company does not name a wavelength, and the figure comes from the company itself. According to reports, staff at the booth also acknowledged that mass production is still three to five years away. The biggest problems are, according to fair staff, output power and long-term stability; the manufacturer itself cites continuous operation of more than 100 hours. The lasers are said to consist of 90% Chinese components.

What does this mean in practice? For Chinese chipmakers and machine builders, the prototype is a signal: the supply chain should no longer rest solely with the Dutch group, which, due to export restrictions, may only sell older systems. For users of smartphones and computers, nothing changes for now. ASML and its partners needed several years just to make EUV lithography reliable enough for long-term use, including against contamination from tin splashes and heavy wear on exposure masks. A prototype with 15 watts is still a long way from that.

The timeline is therefore the real yardstick. Zeiss CEO Frank Rohmund, whose company is the only one worldwide that makes the ultra-pure mirrors for ASML, estimates that it could still take 15 years until China manufactures all components in series and has solved the production problems. For Langdao Silex's light source, this means: a result on the trade fair floor is a first step; whether it becomes production systems will be decided over years.