The Whiteboards Session | 'How do we generate EUV light?' with Scott Middlebrooks

How do we generate the Extreme Ultraviolet light that our machines use to print nanoscopic patterns on silicon? Find out in the latest episode of The Whiteboard Sessions with Scott Middlebrooks. Questions? Just post them below!

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[smallbluemachine]

I really appreciate the hard work the good people at ASML have put in to bring us this miraculous development. Really, that's amazing.

[rodun]

"And that's it" only some of the world's most extreme engineering no biggie LoL

[mildsauce]

"And thats it!"

Lol I love that engineering is SO ADVANCED that we can casually talk about timed interception of microdroplet tin spheres being smacked sequentially with a shaping and ablating laser.

The vanguard of human effort.

[Nainara]

Doesn't the tin vapor condense all over the place afterwards? How do you not have a big mess of molten tin on your parabolic mirror?

[rowiez]

Very interesting video. Thank you! What happens to the tin plasma after it has been used. Is there much waste from generating EUV light?

[chsor]

That is nothing short of amazing. I love the dry understatement of 'thats it', but I wonder if you have active control on the I put alignment on the vessel? I can have a hard time keeping alignment from an amplified Ti:Sa laser to a setup, but having to image something at the end of the beam sounds brutal!

[ericdyer]

Is ASML working on Photonic Integrated Circuits?

[Grzeroli]

As I understood this happens in a vacuum. What happens with the tin atoms? Are they completely completely transformed to extreme UV light, or do some of them fall down on the floor or the machine?

[ZhangYawen-so]

This may sound like a dumb question, but I do wonder if X-ray can be used as the next-generation lithography source, as you mentioned EUV is close to X-ray but longer?

[MyPirre]

Thanks for the explanation. Is the EUV light coherent as in ArF lithography?

[robertpavich]

Thank you for the info. I am trying to get an idea of how much tin is used in the process. Is (or will) the availability of tin become a constraining issue? I assume eventually all chips will be produced using EUVL Lithography. I have no idea whether the tin required is massive or manageable. Can you point me in the right direction please.

[Rockthezeppelin]

In layman's terms, which part of this system is made by TRUMPF, and which part is made by Cymer?

[sanguinj]

Great whiteboard explanation, for some of us that have taken the time to have watched several videos from ASML, Intel, and some others. I got to understand this passionate technology thanks to Youtube and to you guys that been allowed to share it. Just a quick request. Could you elaborate a little bit on those metal tin droplets, What are they made of ?
Second question, why do you guys couldn't use x-ray being of higher frequency. (Maybe a dumb question....). I love this technology!

[MsBalabalablabla]

Why is it tin you use? Would it be possible to use any metal? Would the wavelength differ as characteristic for the material?

[wstiegmaier]

How long did it take to get this technology working?

[CesarGarcia-wdzh]

Can we see any images taken with this light? How is this better than SEM?

[messerschmittbolkow]

So you feed multiple machines with that one laser I guess?

[vxanica]

"That's it". The science and principle parts are simple. However, the technical parts are just an accumulation of details in a large scale.

[prolamer]

Been looking through ASML channel and can say this whiteboard videos are only really interesting content here, rest looks like some silly marketing "bables" about "our company supports footbal team"... yeah right when i make effort to search out channel of leading computer chip company i want to hear about footbal players and see some generic "commercial" videos.
Give us more Whiteboard guy!