An animated deep dive into the engineering and physics behind ASML's extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photolithography systems used to manufacture modern microchips.
Interested in working on the forefront of technological innovation at ASML? Discover here: asml.com/en/careers/working-at-asml/life-at-asml
Still hungry to learn more about ASML's EUV lithography systems? Explore here: asml.com/en/products/euv-lithography-systems
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Inside microchips are nanometer-sized transistors and wires, but how are these nanoscopic structures built? Well, in this video, we’ll explore the EUV Photolithography System built by ASML. This 150-million-dollar machine is essentially a microchip photocopier; it takes the design of a microchip and copies it across hundreds of microchips on a silicon wafer. This EUV Photolithography System is one of the most complex machines ever made, and it encompasses an entire world of science and engineering within it. Specifically in this video, we'll dive deep into the EUV Lithography tool and explore how 13nm EUV light is produced, how the EUV light is focused onto a photomask, how the photomask, or mask, moves around, what the patterns on the mask look like, the projection optics, and how the wafer moves around and the wafer stage. So join us on this adventure into the world of EUV Photolithography! Enjoy!
Table of Contents:
- Exploring CPUs, GPUs, DRAM, SSDs, and SOCs
- Introduction to the Photolithography Systems
- Printing Nanoscopic Lines
- The Basics of CPU Manufacturing
- Different Types of Lithography Tools EUV vs DUV
- Why we use Extreme Ultra Violet Light
- Producing the EUV Light using Tin Droplets
- The Illumination Optics
- The Incredible Engineering inside EUV Lithography
- Bragg Reflections
- Illumination Settings
- ASML Sponsorship
- Exploring the Photomask or Reticle
- Chip Patterns on a 300mm Wafer
- Branch Education Hours of Work
- Projection Optics Rayleigh's Criterion Equation
- Lithography Cluster
- Wafer Alignment
- Photoresist
- Wafer Transport
- Outro
We're working on more ambitious subjects like How Computers Work. Any contribution would greatly help make these videos. patreon.com/brancheducation
Branch Education Website: branch.education
Branch Education Facebook: facebook.com/BranchEducation/
Key Branches from this video are: How are CPUs Made? youtu.be/dX9CGRZwD-w
Lead Animator: Mike Radjabov
Animation Team: Sherdil Davronov, Adrei Dulay, Muazzam Azizova, Abdulaziz Zokirov
Research, Script and Editing: Teddy Tablante
Twitter: @teddytablante
Modeling: Prakash Kakadiya acoroidstudio.com/
Image Editing: Randy Catequista
Voice Over: Phil Lee
Sound Design by Drilu: www.drilu.world
Sound Design and mix: David Pinete
Additional Sound Design: Raúl Núñez
Supervising Sound Editor: Luis Huesca
Erratum:
Wikipedia contributors. "Extreme Ultraviolet L
Why it's here
3 people recommend this
What people say. Recommended as an exceptionally clear and detailed visual explanation of ASML's complex chip manufacturing machines.
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itopaloglu83on Hacker News • Recommends
On “Apple A19 SoC die shot”
It’s a mind blowing achievement, nothing below sorcery if you think about it. ASML machines are hitting tin droplets with 25kW laser 50,000 times a second to turn them into plasma to create the necessary extreme ultraviolet light, and despite generating 500W of EUV, only a small fraction can reach the wafer, due to loses along the way. I believe it was like 10%. Here’s an incredible, very detailed video about it: link to this video
On “Die shots of as many CPUs and other interesting chips as possible”
I'm always fascinated by how brilliant us humans can be. So much so that we can put billions of transistors in very small spaces and in complex structures while also mass producing it. I highly recommend watching this video about lithography and the machine that makes it all possible 1. 1link to this video
The Veritasium video is good but their "newscast" style with constant back-and-forth cuts to talking heads can make the presentation a bit disjointed. The more straightforward video of ASML EUV is from Branch Education: link to this video Because that vid gives an overview of the whole machine, it gives context to what each scientist is talking about in the Veritasium interviews.
Sure - once you have dozens of engineers and 5 years under your belt you'll be good to go! This will get you started: link to this video Keep in mind that every wafer makes multiple trips around the fab, and on each trip it visits multiple machines. Broadly, one trip lays down one layer, and you may need 80-100 layers (although I guess DRAM will be fewer). Each layer must be aligned to nanometer precision with previous layers, otherwise the wafer is junk. Then as others have said, once you finish the wafer, you still need to slice it, test the dies, and then package them. Plus all the other stuff.... You'll need billions in investment, not millions - good luck!
