China uses groundbreaking desktop-sized EUV light source to make 14-nanometre chips
Hefei-based company improves manufacture of the semiconductors used to power industrial automation and electric cars
At the UltrafastX academic conference in late October, Hefei Lumiverse Technology, based in Anhui province, central China, unveiled an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light source technology.
“We specialise in semiconductor inspection and quantum chip manufacturing. One of our industrial clients has already utilised this light source to produce 14nm chips,” a company spokesman said this week.
EUV light sources are a critical component of the lithography machines used to manufacture chips with processes below 7nm, but they can be incredibly complex, massive and expensive.
For example, industry leader ASML’s NXE:3400B is about 12 metres (39 feet) long and 4 metres high.