Intel, Samsung Foundry, and TSMC use ASML's EUV lithography machines, which are capable of 'printing' semiconductors at a 13nm resolution, to build chips on their latest fabrication nodes. But using a laser produced plasma (LPP) EUV light source (which is a CO2 laser applied to small tin droplets) is not the only way to generate 13.5 nm EUV radiation to 'print' chips. Researchers in Japan are exploring the usage of free-electron lasers (FELs) from particle accelerators to make chips with leading-edge feature sizes, reports Spectrum.IEEE.org.
The High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), in Tsukuba, Japan, is exploring usage of free electron lasers (FELs) generated by an energy recovery linear (ERL) accelerator for chipmaking. They say that an energy recovery linear accelerator could produce tens of kilowatts of EUV power cost-effectively to power multiple lithography machines simultaneously. By contrast, ASML has produced a 500W EUV light source for its Twinscan NXE:5800E and is looking at potentially improving power of its EUV light sources to 1000W — eventually.
