Three US companies are developing accelerator-based alternatives to the tin-plasma source at the heart of ASML’s EUV scanners. They promise more usable power, cleaner and more controllable light and ultimately the freedom to move beyond today’s 13.5-nanometer wavelength.
The biggest troublemaker in the run-up to EUV industrialization has been tamed. ASML last year demonstrated 1,000 watts of EUV source power and says the laser-produced plasma architecture can scale further, a spokesperson confirms. According to the litho giant, other components, such as the optics or the stages, will ultimately limit the performance of its scanners.
And yet, there’s not one, not two, but three companies that believe there’s a better way to make EUV light. All hailing from the US, XLight, Inversion Semiconductor and Tau Systems are developing sources that replace exploding tin droplets with high-energy electrons from a free-electron laser (FEL). Instead of heating tin until it radiates at the desired wavelength, they accelerate electrons to close to the speed of light and manipulate their trajectories to make them emit EUV radiation.
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