High-performance chips are needed to build our future: whether it’s for artificial
intelligence or driverless cars.
The key to producing advanced chips is by generating Extreme Ultraviolet light.
EUV light is revolutionary because it has a much shorter wavelength compared to visible
light.
This allows EUV light to create extremely small structures on chips - circuitry that’s
10,000 times thinner than a strand of a human hair!
The more structures that are packed onto a chip, the more powerful the chip becomes.
The thing is - EUV light does NOT occur naturally here on Earth - it’s only found in outer
space.
So, how do you generate EUV light on earth?
That’s where a powerful laser comes into play.
A TRUMPF laser from Germany.
No, it has nothing to do with the former U.S. president.
This high-powered laser strikes tiny droplets of the metal tin in a vacuum chamber as they
shoot past.
We’re talking about striking 50,000 droplets of tin in just one second!
The giant laser takes two shots at each droplet.
The first flattens the tin.
The second, bigger pulse vaporizes the tin, creating a plasma that generates the prized
EUV light upon impact, at the desired wavelength of 13.5 nanometers.
Light is projected through a blueprint of the pattern that will be printed.
In a previous video, I explained how mirrors made by the German company, ZEISS, focus the
pattern onto the silicon wafer, which has already been coated with a light-sensitive
chemical.
The wafer is eventually split into little pieces of microchips.
No other laser on the market can hit 50,000 droplets per second at precisely the right
moment.
Not a moment too soon or too late - otherwise, the impact will not flatten the tin droplet.
So TRUMPF’s light beam must be shaped in a very specific way.
Each laser pulse consists of a small, compact group of light particles hurled at the tin
droplets in a tight bunch.
The plasma that is generated is extremely hot.
With a temperature of 220,000 degrees Celsius (or 396,000 degrees Fahrenheit) - which is
30 to 40 times hotter than the surface of the sun.
The TRUMPF laser is used in the Dutch firm ASML’s huge machines that perform the crucial
step in the chipmaking process: of printing tiny patterns - circuitry - on silicon wafers.
ASML is the only company that is currently capable of building the world’s most advanced
system needed to print chips: its EUV lithography system.
It’s less advanced machines, Deep UV lithography systems, can still print quality chips - just
not the most sophisticated kind.
Think of it this way: if somebody were to write their name with a highlighter in smaller
and smaller writing, in ever smaller writing, you would eventually need a different pen
to write even smaller.
EUV machines are like a finer pen.
If you own a relatively new smartphone or smartwatch, you’ve likely benefitted from
EUV lithography technology.
So far, China has NOT been able to get its hands on these sophisticated machines.
When President Trump was in office, he pressed the Dutch government not to sell the most
advanced machines to China.
The Biden administration has continued putting pressure on ASML amid the ongoing chip war
with China.
Washington’s sanctions in October ban U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and green card
holders from supporting the development or production of advanced chips at certain factories
in China - which could affect hundreds of people working for Chinese semiconductor companies.
And perhaps - it could force them to choose between their citizenship or their job.
As a result, ASML sent out a memo in October instructing its U.S. employees to stop servicing
Chinese customers.
The memo says they “are prohibited from providing certain services to advanced fabs
in China.”
until further notice.
A fab refers to a chip manufacturing plant.
ASML has several locations in China for research and development, manufacturing, and training.
However, at present, it does NOT sell its most advanced EUV systems that use the TRUMPF
lasers to China.
So, a tightly connected group of European companies rule the technological world, in
many ways.
The Dutch company ASML is the only company that manufactures advanced machines to build
the circuitry for high-end chips.
It relies on TRUMPF lasers to generate EUV light to pattern the finest lines on microchips.
And mirrors from the German company ZEISS collect and focus the EUV light.
I’ve done videos on all three companies which I’ll link to in my description.
Other chipmakers then use their EUV systems to manufacture their own microchips: Intel,
Samsung, and TSMC.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company makes nearly ALL of the world’s most advanced
chips.
TSMC currently produces 5-nanometer chips and is striving for next-generation, 3-nanometer
ones.
So, when we talk about the future of tech, TRUMPF, ZEISS, and ASML are critical pieces
of a puzzle that together are shaping the world of tomorrow.
It would be impossible to build sophisticated chip-making machines without brilliant engineers.
If you’d like to improve your science, math, and engineering skills, Brilliant is a website
and app filled with interactive puzzles like these.
In this Scientific Thinking course, you have to figure out what the light intensity will
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I know my viewers also really love Brilliant’s Computer Science Fundamentals course - such
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I used Brilliant myself, and especially enjoy their Logic puzzles.
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There’s something for everyone on Brilliant - whether you’re a student or already working
and wish to brush up on what you already know.
They’ve got a whole host of interactive math courses - which will help you see numbers
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Brilliant is free for you to try out if you head to the custom link in my description:
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And the first 200 people who use my link to sign up will get 20% off Brilliant’s annual
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Thanks for watching.
For Newsthink, I’m Cindy Pom.