Report: China is said to have a functioning EUV lithography system

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China is said to have completed the first fundamentally functioning prototype of an EUV lithography system in early 2025. EUV stands for extreme ultraviolet light, which enables the finest transistor structures in silicon wafers with a wavelength of 13.5 nanometers.

The US news agency Reuters reports on the project, having spoken with various involved individuals according to its own statements. For the first time in years, it provides a realistic insight into the progress of China's chip industry. There are often false reports, partly due to translation errors or propaganda with supposedly novel laser technologies.

The EUV Club is Exclusive

So far, EUV lithography is the only technology that can economically produce complex chips from the 5-nanometer generation in mass quantities (such semiconductors do not have actual 5nm structures; the names have only been marketing for many years). ASML from the Netherlands is the only company worldwide that can produce EUV lithography systems in series because their construction is so complex.

An EUV system costs between 160 million and 200 million euros. Systems with the further improved High-NA EUV technology (EUV with high numerical aperture) cost around 350 million euros. Due to export restrictions, Chinese companies are cut off from all EUV systems and only receive older types that work with deep ultraviolet light (DUV), i.e., a wavelength of 193 instead of 13.5 nanometers.

The export restrictions apparently work well, because even if China gets its hands on ASML systems, they are not worth much without ASML support. For example, engineers from the company help with setup and regular maintenance within the semiconductor factories.

Huawei Involved Everywhere

According to Reuters, Huawei is at the core of China's semiconductor efforts: from chip design and manufacturing equipment to production and final integration into products like smartphones, the company is said to be involved.

Huawei has also been trying to poach ASML engineers on a large scale since at least 2020, focusing on Chinese employees. A team of former ASML employees is said to be working in China under false names to keep the project as secret as possible. While ASML has confidentiality clauses in its contracts, these are difficult to enforce in China. Among the poached engineers is reportedly Lin Nan, formerly in a high-responsible position at ASML as head of light source technology.

Using reverse engineering and components from both DUV and EUV systems from ASML, China is said to have built its own prototype. Without the knowledge of the poached ASML engineers, this would not have been possible, Reuters quotes a source. Around 100 university graduates are also said to be constantly disassembling and reassembling ASML components to understand their construction.

Prototype with Weaknesses

The current prototype is said to look crude and take up much more space than ASML's EUV systems. China can also not yet produce functioning chips with it.

A sticking point apparently involves the required optical components. For some necessary mirrors, even ASML has only one supplier: Zeiss Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology (SMT) from Germany. If you imagine a round EUV-compatible mirror like the surface of the Earth, the largest unevenness corresponds to a toy car on Earth. Chinese suppliers are said to be unable to replicate this purity so far.

Unrealistic Timeline

Internal plans are said to envisage Chinese chip manufacturers producing semiconductors with EUV lithography from 2028 onwards. However, according to the report, even project participants do not consider this realistic. A major problem: the hurdle from prototype status to series production is extremely high.

ASML had its first functioning prototype internally in 2001. Installations at research partners like IMEC began in 2006. The first commercially usable EUV processes were introduced in 2018 and 2019 by Asian chip contract manufacturers Samsung with 7LPP and TSMC with N7+. In the meantime, ASML almost ran out of money. Today, TSMC, Samsung, Intel, and memory manufacturers SK Hynix and Micron widely use ASML's EUV systems.

Even with the prior knowledge of the poached ASML engineers, China will likely still need several years to bring its own lithography systems with such complex technology to series production. And by then, High-NA EUV will likely have established itself abroad.

(mma)