AI Vocabulary · 02 AI Infrastructure
What is EUV Lithography?
The machine process that prints the finest structures of modern chips with extreme ultraviolet light. Only ASML builds these machines.
Chips are made by projecting circuit patterns onto silicon wafers with light, layer by layer. This step is called lithography. The finer the light, the smaller the structures. EUV, extreme ultraviolet, uses light with a wavelength of 13.5 nanometres, more than 14 times shorter than the older DUV light.
Creating that light is a feat of engineering: lasers hit tiny droplets of tin 50,000 times a second and turn them into a glowing plasma. ASML in the Netherlands is the only company that builds EUV machines, which makes it one of the tightest bottlenecks in the whole AI supply chain.
Why it matters for you
Without EUV there are no leading AI chips. Who may buy these machines is part of export controls between the US, Europe and China, and that shapes which chips exist and where.
Own it
You will never buy an EUV machine. When you read about chip shortages or export rules, this is often the step behind the headline.
Where it comes from
The process is described by ASML in Light and lasers and on its EUV systems page.
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