Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography

Also known as EUV lithography, EUV, High-NA EUV, EXE scanner

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography prints the finest features on the most advanced chips, using 13.5 nm light made from tin plasma and optics built by ASML, which is the only maker of these machines. Intel reports that High-NA systems are in high-volume manufacturing for a subset of processors at one chipmaker, but cost, source power and a single supplier remain the main limits.

CommercialDemonstratedReviewed 21 Oct 2026
AI illustration · Illustrative scene, not a photograph of the specific device or experiment.

In plain language

Computer chips are made by projecting a pattern onto a silicon wafer coated with light-sensitive material. The shorter the wavelength of the light, the finer the pattern it can print. EUV lithography uses light at 13.5 nm, which ASML compares with 193 nm for its most capable deep-ultraviolet systems. Materials absorb EUV almost completely, so the machine uses mirrors inside a vacuum rather than lenses.

The light is made by firing a laser at tiny droplets of molten tin. Each droplet turns into a very hot plasma that gives off EUV light. Turning laser energy into useful EUV light, and delivering enough of it to the wafer quickly, is the central engineering problem. ASML is the only company that builds these machines. Press reports put a High-NA machine at about 350 million euros, so only a small number of large chipmakers can buy them.

Technical explanation

In a laser-produced plasma (LPP) source, a pulsed drive laser strikes molten-tin microdroplets. The Journal of Optics review by Versolato and colleagues (2022) describes research at ARCNL on this approach with 1 µm and 2 µm solid-state drive lasers, and reports work on high conversion efficiency with 2 µm drivers. The review's abstract does not give production power figures, and no current production power figure was found in the sources reviewed here.

The key optical parameter is numerical aperture (NA), which describes how wide a cone of light the optics can collect and focus. ASML's TWINSCAN EXE systems raise NA from 0.33 in its NXE systems to 0.55. ASML states that this gives a critical dimension of 8 nm and transistors 1.7 times smaller, with 2.9 times the density, compared with NXE systems. The trade-off of the higher NA is a smaller exposure field, half the size of the NXE field, so each wafer needs about twice as many exposures. ASML states that the EXE:5000 can print more than 185 wafers per hour, and gives a 2025 roadmap target of 220 wafers per hour, which is a plan rather than a result.

Intel reported on 23 July 2026, in its second-quarter results, that it had entered high-volume manufacturing with ASML's EXE High-NA technology for a subset of its Core Ultra Series 3 (Panther Lake) processors. The release does not say which process layers use High-NA, and the claim is the company's own. Research alternatives include sources near 6.7 nm, which Otsuka and colleagues described in 2012 as a future lithography source. The sources reviewed here do not show a commercial route for any of these alternatives.

What the evidence says

Each statement is typed by the strength of its evidence and linked to the source that supports it.

Demonstrated Shown in a published experiment, test or shipping product.

EUV lithography uses light at 13.5 nm, which ASML compares with 193 nm for its highest-resolution deep-ultraviolet systems.

Sources: [1] · Introduction

Versolato and colleagues review research at ARCNL on tin microdroplet plasma sources driven by 1 µm and 2 µm solid-state lasers, and report work on high conversion efficiency with 2 µm drivers.

Sources: [4] · Abstract summary · medium confidence

ASML has emerged as the sole supplier of EUV lithography machines.

Sources: [6] · Executive summary

Reported, unverified Stated by a company or team but not independently confirmed.

ASML says its High-NA EXE systems raise numerical aperture from 0.33 to 0.55, give a critical dimension of 8 nm, and halve the exposure field size compared with NXE systems, which doubles the exposures per wafer.

Sources: [1] · Specifications · medium confidence

ASML says the EXE:5000 can print more than 185 wafers per hour and has a roadmap target of 220 wafers per hour in 2025. The 220 figure is a plan, not a measured result.

Sources: [1] · Throughput · medium confidence

On 23 July 2026, Intel reported that it had entered high-volume manufacturing with ASML's EXE High-NA technology for a subset of Core Ultra Series 3 (Panther Lake) processors, without naming the process layers involved.

Sources: [2] · Foundry momentum section · medium confidence

A May 2024 Taipei Times report with a Bloomberg byline gives the price of ASML's new EUV machines as 350 million euros (about US$378 million) each, and links the price to High-NA tools.

Sources: [3] · Article text · medium confidence

Proposed A design or plan that has not yet been built or tested.

In 2012, Otsuka and colleagues presented a 6.7 nm source as a future lithography source.

Sources: [5] · Title · medium confidence

Limitations and open problems

  • ASML is the only supplier of EUV scanners. Supply, price and delivery schedules therefore depend on a single company (VerWey, 2024).
  • Source power and conversion efficiency are the main engineering questions for tin plasma sources. Current production power and repetition-rate figures were not found in the sources reviewed here.
  • Press reports put a High-NA scanner at about 350 million euros, which limits purchases to large chipmakers (Taipei Times, 2024). ASML's own price statement was not found in the primary sources reviewed.
  • The High-NA exposure field is half the size of the NXE field, so each wafer needs about twice as many exposures, which adds time and process complexity (ASML, 2024).
  • Intel's volume-use statement covers only a subset of processors and does not name process layers. The throughput figures quoted by ASML are supplier figures and were not independently verified.
  • Shorter-wavelength alternatives, such as the 6.7 nm source proposed in 2012, are still at research stage in the sources reviewed here.

Possible future uses

Speculative

Ideas, not predictions. None of these has been demonstrated.

  • Lithography at around 6.7 nm, if sources, mirrors and resists can be made to work at production scale.
  • Patterning of photonic and sensor structures at finer dimensions than current deep-ultraviolet tools allow, using EUV tools that already exist in leading fabs.
  • Future chip generations below 2 nm that depend on High-NA for their most demanding layers.

Timeline

  1. 2010ASML's NXE platform first shipped in 2010, according to ASML. Sources: [1]
  2. 22 Apr 2022Versolato and colleagues publish a review of tin microdroplet plasma sources driven by solid-state lasers. Sources: [4]
  3. Dec 2023ASML ships the first modules of the first High-NA EUV system to Intel, according to ASML. Sources: [1]
  4. 16 May 2024A Taipei Times report with a Bloomberg byline gives the price of ASML's new EUV machines as about 350 million euros each. Sources: [3]
  5. 23 Jul 2026Intel reports high-volume manufacturing with EXE High-NA for a subset of Panther Lake processors. Sources: [2]

Futures this could help bring about

AI illustration
How far away?

Chips made with the next generation of EUV machines

Pilots · 5 of 9 steps done

Glossary

EUV (extreme ultraviolet)
Light with a very short wavelength, here 13.5 nm, used to print the finest features on chips.
Numerical aperture (NA)
A measure of how wide a cone of light an optical system can collect and focus. A higher NA allows finer features.
Laser-produced plasma (LPP)
A hot, electrically charged gas made by hitting a target, here tin droplets, with a pulsed laser. It emits EUV light.
Conversion efficiency
The fraction of the drive laser energy that is turned into usable EUV light.

Sources

  1. company announcement
    5 things you should know about High NA EUV lithography
    ASML, 25 Jan 2024. Accessed 21 Oct 2026.
  2. company announcement
    Intel Corporation Q2 2026 earnings release (Form 8-K exhibit)
    Intel Corporation, via the US Securities and Exchange Commission, 23 Jul 2026. Accessed 21 Oct 2026.
  3. news
    ASML's new machines are too expensive: TSMC
    Taipei Times, 16 May 2024. Accessed 21 Oct 2026.
  4. review article
    Microdroplet-tin plasma sources of EUV radiation driven by solid-state-lasers (Topical Review)
    Versolato, Sheil, Witte et al.. Journal of Optics (IOP Publishing), 22 Apr 2022. DOI: 10.1088/2040-8986/ac5a7e. Accessed 21 Oct 2026.
  5. conference paper
    A 6.7-nm beyond EUV source as a future lithography source
    Otsuka, Li, O'Gorman et al.. SPIE, Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography III, 29 Mar 2012. DOI: 10.1117/12.916351. Accessed 21 Oct 2026.
  6. other
    Tracing the Emergence of Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography
    John VerWey. Georgetown University, Center for Security and Emerging Technology, Jul 2024. Accessed 21 Oct 2026.

Revision history

3 changes since this profile was created.

Changes on 21 Oct 2026
Published on owner instruction (content loop iteration 49)fddb851
Sources and claims re-checked against originalsfbb434c
Initial profile drafted from primary sources7e66249