The 12-inch photomask is what makes ASML's $400 million machine worth buying
Future Technology
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The 12-inch photomask is what makes ASML's $400 million machine worth buying
ASML has secured agreement from TSMC, Samsung and Intel to move the industry from 6-inch photomasks to 12-inch ones. The change raises throughput on its newest high-NA EUV systems by roughly 40 percent.
Key Takeaways
- ASML has agreement from TSMC, Samsung and Intel to move to 12-inch photomasks, up from a 6-inch standard that has held for decades
- The change raises throughput on high-NA EUV systems by roughly 40 percent, which is what makes a $400 million machine pay for itself
- Larger masks remove reticle stitching, where a chip too big for one exposure field has to be printed in pieces and joined
- The timetable is long: a pilot mask line around 2031 and production readiness by 2033, with Samsung using high-NA for DRAM by 2028 and TSMC on advanced nodes from 2030
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