SEOUL: US-led export controls are pushing China to accelerate efforts to develop its own extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography tools, but experts say turning early prototypes into mass-production systems within this decade remains highly unlikely.
China is reported to have built a prototype EUV machine by reverse-engineering older equipment from Dutch supplier ASML Holding NV, with ambitions to begin mass production by 2028.
While a lab-level demonstration is plausible, industry observers say bridging the gap to commercial-scale manufacturing is far more complex.
“For China, a one-off demonstration of a homegrown EUV system is possible,” said Ahn Jin-ho, a materials science professor at Hanyang University.
“But developing a system capable of high-volume manufacturing within the next decade is unlikely.”
Without access to cutting-edge EUV lithography – which uses extreme ultraviolet light to etch circuits thousands of times thinner than a human hair – China has relied on deep ultraviolet (DUV) tools, repeating patterning steps to achieve similar results at higher cost and lower efficiency.
But DUV can only take China so far.
As Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd push toward two-nanometre chips, Beijing has launched a state-backed EUV effort, reportedly recruiting former ASML engineers and ramping up investment.
“Below seven-nanometre nodes, EUV lithography is effectively indispensable,” said Ahn Ki-hyun, executive director of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association.
“If China succeeds in localising EUV, it could reshape the chip landscape. But it won’t happen overnight.”
Ahn, an EUV expert who also recently received an award from the National Academy of Engineering of Korea, is highly sceptical that China can deliver a mass- production EUV system by its 2028 target.
“Industry heavyweights like Nikon and Canon, which long dominated lithography, never cracked EUV. This is not a technology you can brute-force your way into,” Ahn said.
Even for ASML, the sole supplier of EUV systems, development took decades and relied on a tightly coordinated ecosystem, including precision optics from Carl Zeiss and specialised light-source technologies, he added.
The optics system remains one of the biggest hurdles, requiring extraordinary precision in both design and manufacturing. Equally critical is the integration of the broader ecosystem – including masks, pellicles and photoresists – all of which must function seamlessly with the tool.
“Achieving that level of optimisation – from particle control to managing hydrogen environments inside EUV systems – takes decades of accumulated know-how,” Ahn said.
China has advanced chipmaking using older lithography tools and argon fluoride immersion, repeating patterning steps to reach what it claims are near three-nanometre capabilities, though most production at cutting-edge nodes remains around the seven-nanometre level.
But that workaround comes at a cost.
Notably, companies such as ChangXin Memory Technologies, Yangtze Memory Technologies and Semiconductor Manu-facturing International Corp face mounting financial pressure as multiple patterning drives up production expenses.
“In manufacturing, it is all about cost and profit.
“If you need multiple exposures just to match what EUV can do in one, the economics simply don’t work,” an industry official said. — The Korea Herald/ANN
