One of the fundamental problems was the lack of power available to process wafers, meaning throughput was too slow. But it appears progress is being made. According to ASML, the leading developer of the technology, a productivity upgrade to one of its NXT:1980 systems has enabled a memory manufacturer to process more than 5700 wafers in a day.
ASML’s president and CEO Peter Wennink says there are now more than 60 EUV systems being used in memory, 10nm logic and 7nm process development. And, in its latest financial report, ASML says there are orders for a further 21 EUV systems on its books, worth more than €2billion.
TSMC, apparently, has ‘firm plans’ to use EUV at the 5nm node. Perhaps the technology’s time has come at last.
