ASML

Building future talent starts early. Across our regions, we apply our engineering and scientific expertise to expand access to STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education through practical, hands-on learning. The goal is to help young people understand how technology works and why it matters in everyday life. The ASML Junior Academy is one example of this approach in action. 🔬 In the Netherlands, the program has grown into a mature, multi-year STEM initiative, now reaching more than 575 primary schools in the Veldhoven region and more than 130,000 children each year through regular interactive lessons. 🌍 The ASML Junior Academy also continues to grow internationally. In the US, the partnership has reached more than 13,500 students since launching in Connecticut in 2023, with expansion planned in San Diego and San Jose, alongside growing interest in extending the model to additional regions. 👩🏫 ASML employees actively contribute in the classroom as visible role models, helping strengthen connections between schools, communities and industry while supporting children’s interest and confidence in STEM over time. Today, participating teachers came together in the Netherlands for an ASML Junior Academy event organized with Mad Science Nederland, marking the planned renewal of the partnership for the coming years.

Why do chipmakers need software to perfect chip patterning? 🤔 At ASML, we strive to deliver lithography hardware that’s as precise and stable as possible. But for every layer of every chip, chipmakers need to figure out what conditions can best harness that precision – and how to maintain it under the real-world conditions of volume production. A critical tool for doing that? Computational lithography.

The Rayleigh criterion tells us that the smaller the wavelength of light a lithography system uses, the smaller the features it can print. Simple in theory, right? In practice, moving to a smaller wavelength presents myriad physics and engineering challenges. When we were developing our extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology, choosing the right wavelength was critical to overcoming those challenges – and making the technology a success.

Meet the latest addition to ASML’s Board of Management: Marco Pieters, our CTO. With more than 25 years at ASML across DUV lithography, metrology and inspection, and EUV lithography, Marco brings deep technical expertise to the role. Read more about his journey at ASML and his vision for the future of innovation: http://ms.spr.ly/6043vTz6l

How do chipmakers' challenges turn into lithography innovation? This week, more than 400 of our engineers came together to tackle this question at our Applications Conference. With 25 talks and 87 posters presented over two days, the conference explored opportunities for using our unique expertise and holistic approach to better meet our customers' needs. Here are four areas our engineers are focused on to support the 2D shrink and 3D integration chipmakers are using to drive chip performance: 💥Enabling High NA EUV: Our holistic solutions target imaging performance, depth-of-field improvement and through-stack optimization to drive on-product overlay. 🤝 Wafer bonding: Imaging solutions such as pupil mask wavefront co-optimization enable customers to balance extreme overlay corrections with maintaining the required imaging performance. 📦 Advanced packaging: We ensure that our TWINSCAN XT:260 lithography systems deliver overlay and imaging performance for thick resist film stacks and large-field interposers that require field-to-field stitching. 🤖 AI-powered solutions: By adding AI, we deliver faster recipe creation, improved metrology stability and advanced capability to detect metrology instability for our YieldStar in-device metrology solutions. By collaborating on these challenges, we innovate meaningful solutions for our customers.

At ASML, April is our Global Volunteering Month – a time when we focus on doing our part to strengthen the communities around us. From beach cleanups to a 50 km walk supporting children’s nutrition, here’s how ASMLers in multiple countries across three continents rolled up their sleeves this year. 🌎

With AI demand putting increasing pressure on the semiconductor supply chain, we and our partners must ensure resilience without losing the benefits of global collaboration. Advanced semiconductor manufacturing depends on highly specialized equipment and materials, long development and qualification cycles and deep global interdependencies. Rebalancing that system to meet changing demands requires long-term investment, close ecosystem collaboration and continued innovation. Learn more about how we continue to power technology forward in this Bloomberg video. ⬇️

Developing and manufacturing a microchip is not only incredibly complex – it also requires significant capital investment. So, once a chip goes into mass production, chipmakers need to produce as many good chips as possible to keep the technology they power affordable. That’s why, at ASML, we help chipmakers maximize one of their key metrics: yield.

A single microchip can have more than 100 layers, and chipmakers have to choose the right lithography system to print each layer. Critical layers in advanced chips need the highest resolution from extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. But higher up in the stack, deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography takes over, efficiently patterning layer after layer of circuitry. These technologies work together to give chipmakers the best patterning results, on time and at the right cost.

How does light print a chip pattern? 💡 Shining light on a bare silicon wafer isn’t enough. Something needs to be there to capture the pattern – and our industry partners are continually developing these advanced materials to meet chipmakers’ evolving needs.