Samsung is set to start installing its first EUV lithography tool with a 0.55 numerical aperture (High-NA) in Q4 2024 – Q1 2025, reports Seoul Economic Daily, citing its sources. The device will be used primarily for research and development purposes as the company works on its next-generation process technologies that require resolutions enabled by High-NA EUV tools. Samsung also works on a High-NA ecosystem with Lasertec, JSR, Tokyo Electron, and Synopsys.
Samsung's first ASML Twinscan EXE:5000 High-NA lithography system will be installed at the company's Hwaseong campus, where it will develop its next-generation fabrication technologies for logic and DRAM. The unit is projected to be operational by mid-2025. As a result, Samsung will have its first High-NA EUV tool operational about a year later than Intel, but it will still be ahead of its rivals TSMC and SK hynix. When Samsung adopts High-NA EUV for mass production, it remains to be seen, but it is not expected until well into the decade's second half.
