US builds nearly billion-dollar center to create EUV to compete with ASML

The EUV Accelerator Center received $825 million in funding from the US government with the goal of creating an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machine to produce chips.

The EUV Accelerator, located at the Albany NanoTech Complex in New York, is the first research and development (R&D) facility under the CHIPS for America program, part of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, signed into law by the Biden administration, which aims to encourage the return of semiconductor manufacturing to the United States.

Inside an EUV lithography system. Photo: ASML

The lab will feature state-of-the-art chip manufacturing machinery, allowing semiconductor industry researchers to collaborate with university training partners, Senator Chuck Schumer announced over the weekend.

“By doing cutting-edge research in America, we’ll be able to create the most advanced chips in the world and ensure our military has an edge,” Schumer told Fortune . “Of course, it also ensures that the American economy and businesses have an edge in cutting-edge semiconductors.”

Previously, the US government considered EUV an important technology in the production of advanced chips and needed to master this technology. Washington also believes that access, research and development of EUV is necessary to expand the US leadership position, reduce the time and cost of prototyping, as well as build and maintain the semiconductor workforce ecosystem.

Once operational, the EUV Accelerator is expected to focus on advanced high-numerical-aperture EUV development as well as research into other EUV-based technologies. The center is expected to provide access to standard EUV NA next year and high-NA EUV in 2026 to members of the US National Semiconductor Technology Center (NTSC) and Natcast.

“With this first EUV research center, CHIPS for America is providing NSTC with access to cutting-edge research and tools,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “The launch of the center marks an important milestone in ensuring the United States remains the global leader in semiconductor innovation.”

The U.S. is now focusing heavily on the semiconductor sector. In February, the Biden administration announced a grant to chipmaker GlobalFoundries to boost manufacturing north of Albany and Vermont. In April, the U.S. announced a $6.1 billion package to Micron to produce advanced memory chips near Syracuse, New York) and Boise, Idaho.

Photolithography is the process of printing circuit diagrams onto the photosensitive surface of silicon wafers by shining light onto the silicon wafer through a glass plate with the circuit diagram drawn on it. Smaller circuits require shorter wavelength light sources, of which extreme ultraviolet (EUV) is the most modern development today.

In recent years, ASML of the Netherlands has been considered a "bottleneck" in semiconductor manufacturing as it is almost the only supplier of photolithography machines, including machines using DUV immersion lithography technology and EUV systems. The products play a central role in the geopolitical competition between the US and China, as Washington is trying to prevent Beijing from accessing these systems. Currently, ASML's most advanced EUV High-NA machine is being sold for $380 million, with the first one being shipped to Intel earlier this year and the second to an " unidentified customer ".

Bao Lam (according to Fortune, NIST )

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