Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUV)

Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUV) is an advanced semiconductor manufacturing technology used to print extremely small features onto silicon wafers during integrated circuit fabrication. EUV lithography uses light with a wavelength of approximately 13.5 nanometers, enabling the production of highly advanced semiconductor devices with very high transistor density.

EUV is considered one of the most important enabling technologies for modern semiconductor process nodes, including 7 nm, 5 nm, 3 nm, and future angstrom-class technologies.

The technology is primarily deployed in advanced fabrication facilities operated by companies such as TSMC, Samsung Electronics, and Intel using lithography systems supplied by ASML.

Background

Lithography is the process used in semiconductor manufacturing to transfer circuit patterns from a photomask onto a silicon wafer coated with photoresist material.

Historically, the semiconductor industry used progressively shorter wavelengths to increase transistor density:

Technology	Wavelength
g-line	436 nm
i-line	365 nm
Deep Ultraviolet (DUV)	248 nm / 193 nm
Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV)	13.5 nm

As transistor dimensions continued shrinking in accordance with Moore's Law, conventional DUV lithography increasingly required complex multiple-patterning techniques. EUV was developed to simplify patterning and improve scalability for advanced semiconductor nodes.