Netherlands, Veldhoven.
One of the world's largest semiconductor equipnt rchants, ASML Company Headquarters is located in this city.
As a company that provides comprehensive critical photolithography equipnt to chip manufacturers around the world, ASML's status in the global semiconductor industry could be described as pivotal. The world needs ASML, just as the internet cannot do without the basic server rooms spread across the globe.
At this mont, ASML's CEO Lunin Chelsman was sitting in his office watching a video about his interview.
"...Yes, it's impossible for Huaxia to produce a photolithography machine on its own, given that it's a highly systematic project."
At this point, Lunin was sowhat dissatisfied.
These damn Arican dia, always taking things out of context.
During the interview, he clearly stated that the photolithography machine is the crystallization of human wisdom. It's the strongest proof of global marketization.
This viewpoint was not wrong.
Take ASML's photolithography machines, for example—its core light source supplier is Cyr from the United States, the lens cos from Cai Si in Germany, the ultraviolet exposure box from Nikon, and many precision parts from the local KMWE Group...
Well, actually, just taking that one sentence wasn't wrong either.
It is indeed unlikely that Huaxia could produce high-performance photolithography equipnt all on its own.
There is no such powerful country on this planet.
Lunin Chelsman shook his head, then directly moved his mouse and closed the news pushed by NBC.
Speaking frankly, from a business standpoint, no one would be willing to give up on Huaxia's highly potential vast market.
A quarter of the world's population is no trivial matter.
Not to ntion, orders from Huaxia once accounted for twenty-five percent of ASML's annual revenue.
But what could he do about it?
So restrictions were simply out of his hands.
"Knock, knock, knock..."
The tily knocking at the door made Lunin Chelsman put away that hint of irritation in his mind and he casually said, "Co in."
The office door opened, and the secretary stood at the entrance: "Mr. Chelsman, Mr. Brink hopes..."
"All right, Lunin, I have sothing very important to discuss with you."
Before the secretary could finish speaking, a tall figure had already stepped past the secretary and entered the office.
Lunin raised his hand and waved, and the secretary closed the door with tact.
There was no ti to fuss about the man's impoliteness.
Schneider Brink, the president and chief technology officer of the company, was also a mber of the board of directors.
In terms of position within the company, the two were more or less equals.
"Coffee?" Lunin offered the Arican coffee on the table, asking.
"I'll pass, but I suggest you take a sip right away, because you may lose the desire to drink it once you hear what I have to say," Schneider said with a serious expression.
"Oh?" Lunin put away his relaxed expression, curiously asking, "What is it?"
Schneider took a deep breath, then began to speak, "We suspect that the Huaxia people have developed a new large-scale photolithography machine, and this device has already entered the testing phase. Even if its performance can't match our NXE:3600D, the gap might not be too large.
Of course, it could also potentially compete with NXE:3800E, I an in terms of combined performance of process, energy efficiency, and production capacity."
Lunin cocked his head, then raised his hands and gave Schneider Brink, who was sitting in front of him, a confused look. After sensing that the company's CTO was not joking, he shook his head seriously and said, "Schneider, it's August now, we're still eight months away from next year's April Fools' Day."
"This is no April Fools' joke," Schneider shook his head.
"But that's impossible! There's no evidence anywhere in the world to prove that anyone has technology surpassing ours!" Lunin swallowed unconsciously, emphasizing his point.
"Of course, an hour ago my thoughts were no different from yours. Is the computer on?" Schneider pointed to the laptop in front of Lunin.
Lunin directly pushed the laptop over, saying, "Project it."
Soon, the large screen opposite Lunin lit up, then quickly entered an interface resembling an animation. At the top was a circular track, around which were neatly distributed machines; at the bottom was a control panel.
Lunin gave Schneider a surprised look.
However, Schneider paid him no mind and thodically operated it.
Quickly, the scene ca to life as countless particles in the circular track began to rotate swiftly under the guidance of light beams. Subsequently, rays of radiation pointed directly at each machine, and by adjusting the control panel, one could control the speed of the particles' rotation and the intensity of the radiation light source.
After watching quietly for a minute, Lunin finally spoke, "What's the aning of this?"
"This is a dynamic simulation created by the engineering departnt based on a paper published in 'Science' magazine six hours ago. As you can see, it uses stable, high-intensity light sources created through particle acceleration radiation, and then uses these light sources for photolithography.
According to the data analysis in the paper, its maximum exposure capability can reach 28mJ per square centiter, and it's estimated that the wafer production capacity is about 160-185 pieces per hour. Of course, multiply that number by 28," Schneider explained gravely.
Lunin's mouth hung open, as though he wanted to say sothing, but no sound ca out.
Without pausing, Schneider continued his explanation: "Not only that, its control system is very sophisticated, also allowing for greater flexibility during processing. You simply need to input different programs and paraters to generate different light sources and use different processes to produce different chips.
In other words, this huge device is equivalent to a large photolithography factory. And it's a photolithography factory that can produce according to different needs. In other words, this system could switch between EUV and DUV. It's capable of producing both high-end and low-end chips."
Reviews
All reviews (0)