Industrial resonance with fundamental EUV research

“Fred, that will never work. No way,” professor Marnix van der Wiel at one point said about lithography using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light. In the late 1980s, under Van der Wiel’s wing at the FOM institute for plasma physics Rijnhuizen in Nieuwegein, junior researcher Fred Bijkerk was laying the groundwork for mirrors that can manipulate EUV light. “Marnix looked at it purely as a scientist,” Bijkerk recalls. “He knew it wouldn’t be trivial, technologically.”

Bijkerk had an affinity for the fundamental aspects of physics, but already in his early research years, the applications attracted him as well. “I told Marnix that ASML could have a fair chance of getting there with the right focus and adequate room for technological development. He’s now 82 and has since been quite impressed by ASML’s results.”