FEATURE LITHOGRAPHY


Global chip production capacity by region g


research, including synergies with existing EU research programmes; infrastructure building; and supporting start-ups and small-to-medium-sized entities (SMEs). Pillar two is called Security of Supply, creating incentives for investors to build fabs to increase production capacity. Pillar three involves monitoring supply chains to anticipate and respond to potential future shortages. ‘We started in negotiations with the member states and with the European Parliament with the idea that the Act is passed in the course of the year,’ Steinhögl said. Pillar one will involve moving from


basic research to pilot lines, which can involve up to a 50-fold multiplication in resources needed. The EU member states therefore want to ‘bundle our resources’, according to Steinhögl. That will build on existing EU Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking pilot line projects. It will also push the continent’s knowledge closer to leading-edge lithographic technology


using 5nm technology and below. ‘Then we would also look at more advanced technologies, for example, quantum chips, but also hybrid heterogeneous integration for photonic applications,’ Steinhögl said. It won’t be possible to have the large facilities envisioned in every European region, he added, but they will be distributed so that it’s possible for every region to access these technologies. Pillar one of the European Chips Act will also enhance workforce skills via research and education, to help support the new fabs constructed under pillar two. Such facilities need to be the first of their kind in the EU to be funded. ‘It can be small node size; it can also be a new functionality of the chip design,’ Steinhögl explained. Around €30bn of the total €43bn available will go towards such projects. The final pillar recognises it can take five years to build new facilities and so seeks to monitor European semiconductor production capacity and act early to avoid scarcity.


ASML system sales per region over the last 10 years


Thanks to lithography’s importance, a significant proportion of the funds announced will ultimately go to the world’s leading lithography equipment provider, ASML, based in Veldhoven, the Netherlands. As such the company published a position paper on the EU Chips Act quickly after its announcement in February 2022. While it ‘welcomes and strongly supports the European Commission’s proposal’, it also highlights the scale of the challenge of growing the region’s semiconductor market share to 20 per cent. It estimates that European total investment would have to be roughly $264bn to reach this level. Much may come from chipmakers, but they need government support to overcome the current ‘lack of advanced chip manufacturing experience on European soil’, ASML wrote. ‘We support Europe’s ambition to produce


more advanced microchips in Europe,’ said Sander Hofman, ASML’s spokesperson and corporate communications manager. ‘In our view, the writing on the wall is clear. Demand for all kinds of chips will increase, so we welcome the return of government backing for our ecosystem at this crucial juncture. This initial investment may be a catalyst for more public and private investments in the coming years.’ He added that government investments in the basic and applied research areas fueling semiconductor innovation ‘are always welcome, as they are the fuel for big technology shifts like EUV’.


The Center for Nanotechnology Education and Utilization (CNEU) at Penn State is a model for how to boost lithography-related skills


18 Electro Optics May 2022


If you build demand, fabs will come With the US also seeking to improve its home-grown semiconductor industry, one possible approach the Chips for America Act might take is developing a domestic rival to ASML. Hofman said that although the company is always vigilant about the semiconductor industry’s dynamics and development, it isn’t concerned about this. ‘At ASML, we see ourselves as system architects and integrators,’ Hofman said. ‘We have spent more than three decades


@electrooptics | www.electrooptics.com


Penn State


ASML/ BCG & SIA, 2020


ASML/ BCG & SIA, 2020


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