Russia plans EUV chipmaking tools that it says will be cheaper and easier to build than ASML’s — country outlines new roadmap to smaller chips

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Russia plans EUV chipmaking tools that it says will be cheaper and easier to build than ASML’s — country outlines new roadmap to smaller chips

Russia has unveiled a roadmap to develop its own lithography machines, aiming to create less costly and complex equipment than ASML’s systems, according to 

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. These machines will use lasers operating at a wavelength of 11.2 nanometers instead of the standard 13.5 nm used by ASML. This wavelength will be incompatible with existing EUV infrastructure and require Russia to develop its own lithography ecosystem, which will likely take years, if not a decade or more.

The Russian semiconductor initiative is led by Nikolay Chkhalo from the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Microstructure Physics. The plan is to build EUV machines that offer competitive performance while lowering manufacturing and operational expenses compared to ASML’s EUV tools. 

Unlike ASML’s EUV lithography systems, Russian EUV scanners will use a xenon-based laser source with an 11.2 nm wavelength instead of ASML’s tin-based systems. Chkhalo says the 11.2nm wavelength offers a 20% improvement in resolution, allowing for finer detail while simplifying the design and reducing the costs of optical components. This adjustment significantly decreases contamination of optical elements, extending the lifespan of critical parts like collectors and protective pellicles. The design also allows for silicon-based photoresists, which are expected to perform better at the shorter wavelength. 

The Russian lithography machines will be less powerful than ASML’s, with a throughput approximately 2.7 times lower due to using a 3.6 kW light source. However, this performance is deemed sufficient for small-scale production. 

Although 11.2 nm still falls within the extreme ultraviolet spectrum, this shift is not a minor adjustment. It means that all optical elements — such as mirrors, coatings, mask designs, and resists — must be specifically designed and optimized for the new wavelength. The laser source, resist chemistry, contamination control, and other supporting technologies would also need re-engineering to work efficiently at 11.2 nm. 

As a result, tools based on 11.2nm will not be directly compatible with the existing EUV infrastructure and ecosystem built around 13.5 nm. In fact, even electronic design automation tools will have to be updated for EUV tools with 11.2nm lasers. Although existing EDA tools can still handle the fundamental steps, such as logic synthesis, placement, and routing, the lithography-aware steps like mask data preparation, optical proximity correction (OPC), and resolution enhancement techniques (RET) would need to be recalibrated or updated with new process models tailored for 11.2 nm. 

Three stages.

Development will proceed in three stages. The first stage will focus on foundational research, identifying key technologies, and testing initial components. The second stage will involve creating a prototype capable of processing sixty 200-mm wafers per hour and integrating it into domestic chip production lines. The third stage aims to deliver a factory-ready system capable of processing sixty 300-mm wafers per hour. It is unclear which process technologies the new lithography tools will support. Also, the roadmap does not specify the timelines for completing these stages. 

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Keeping in mind that usage of lasers with a 11.2nm wavelength requires development of an all-new ecosystem that does not exist today, it may well take a decade or more to design these EUV lithography systems.

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