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How ASML Helps Make the World’s Most Advanced Chips

ASML makes lithography systems that pattern silicon wafers. Its EUV technology helps print intricate layers on advanced chips, alongside DUV and many other manufacturing steps.
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ASML makes lithography systems that semiconductor manufacturers use to transfer intricate patterns onto silicon wafers. Its extreme ultraviolet (EUV) machines help print some of the critical layers in leading-edge chips—but they are one part of a much larger manufacturing process, not machines that produce finished chips on their own.

What ASML’s machines do in chipmaking

A chip is built through many repeated manufacturing steps. Lithography is the step that projects a pattern onto a light-sensitive coating on a wafer; other processes then use that pattern to form or modify structures in the silicon and deposited materials. Manufacturers repeat and combine these steps to build a chip’s many layers.

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ASML sells lithography systems to chipmakers, including systems that use both EUV and deep ultraviolet (DUV) light. EUV is especially useful for intricate, critical layers on advanced chips. It does not replace DUV across an entire factory: which technology is used depends on the layer’s requirements and the manufacturer’s process plan. ASML describes EUV as a way to simplify some layers that would otherwise require multiple DUV exposures. ASML’s EUV product overview and its 2025 annual report explain the company’s role and the technology’s place in chipmaking.

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How EUV lithography works

ASML’s EUV systems use light with a wavelength of 13.5 nanometers, near the X-ray range. The machine creates that light by firing a powerful carbon-dioxide laser at tiny, fast-moving droplets of tin. The resulting plasma emits EUV light.

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A series of multilayer mirrors directs the light through the optical column to a reticle, a plate carrying the pattern to be printed. The system reduces and projects that pattern onto a silicon wafer. EUV light is absorbed by air and nearly all materials, so the optical path must operate in a high vacuum; conventional lenses cannot guide it. These are descriptions of ASML’s system design, as detailed on its EUV product page and in its 2025 strategy account.

Why use EUV instead of more DUV exposures?

DUV remains essential, but producing a very intricate pattern with DUV can require several exposures and associated processing steps. For some critical layers, an EUV exposure can print a pattern that might otherwise need multiple DUV exposures. The practical choice is specific to the layer and the full manufacturing flow; EUV is not a universal substitute.

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There are trade-offs. ASML says EUV systems use more power than DUV systems, while potentially reducing the number of process steps for a layer. The effect on energy use or environmental impact therefore depends on the complete process flow, not just the light source or the count of exposures. ASML’s 2025 annual report discusses EUV’s role, and its strategy account addresses the power and process context.

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Standard EUV and High NA EUV

High NA is the next EUV platform generation described by ASML. NA means numerical aperture, a measure related to how much light an optical system can collect and focus; a higher numerical aperture can support finer patterning. ASML’s product page gives the TWINSCAN EXE platform a numerical aperture of 0.55 and a stated resolution of 8 nm. It says the platform is intended to support high-volume manufacturing in 2025–2026. That is ASML’s stated purpose and timeframe, not evidence that the platform has been broadly deployed by customers. See the company’s EUV product information.

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ASML also reported a 1,000-watt EUV light-source demonstration in April 2025. The company said the milestone validated an approach it believes can scale to higher power, while noting that a commercial 1,000-watt source would take time to be ready. The demonstration should not be confused with a commercially deployed source. In the same 2025 strategy account, ASML says its latest commercial EUV sources operate at 60,000 tin droplets per second; the 1,000-watt demonstration used 100,000 droplets per second. Those figures describe different contexts. ASML’s 2025 strategy account quotes Jayson Stewart, Head of Source Research: “Although we believe it will be some time before a commercial 1,000-watt source is ready, this demo clearly validates our approach, which can be scaled to even higher power levels. When our customers’ roadmaps require more EUV light to boost productivity, we’ll be ready.”

What ASML’s 2025 figures show

The following figures describe ASML’s business, not the entire semiconductor-equipment market. They are company-reported results for 2025.

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ASML-reported measure 2025 figure What it covers
EUV lithography systems sold 48 ASML’s EUV systems
Total systems sold 535 EUV, DUV, and metrology and inspection systems
Total net sales €32.7 billion ASML’s net sales

ASML reported those annual figures in its 2025 annual report. Its strategy account also says the full-specification NXE:3800E is rated at 220 wafers per hour, a 37% throughput improvement over the NXE:3600D. That is a comparison of the two specified systems, not a guarantee of a fab’s actual output, which depends on operating conditions and the wider production flow.

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ASML’s 2025 strategic report says approximately 95% of its systems sold in the past 30 years were still in use, within the report’s stated frame. It is an ASML-reported figure, not an independent survey of all semiconductor equipment. The source is the company’s 2025 strategic report.

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What ASML’s position means—and does not mean

ASML’s 2025 annual report states that “ASML is currently the world’s only manufacturer of EUV lithography systems.” This is the company’s own statement, not an independently verified market survey. It describes a specialized equipment supplier’s position in EUV lithography; it does not mean ASML makes chips or controls every stage of semiconductor production. Chipmakers use its systems alongside other equipment and processes to manufacture chips. ASML’s annual report provides the company’s statement and business context.

Why lithography is only one part of the story

A lithography system supplies a patterned image; it does not complete the wafer. Semiconductor production also requires many other tools, materials, process steps, and repeated cycles. EUV’s contribution is important but specific: it helps manufacturers form selected intricate layers, while the design, the rest of the process flow, and the chipmaker’s production capabilities all matter to the final chip.

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