How extreme ultraviolet light became the engine of modern computing and Moore's Law

Countries & Cities · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: To keep shrinking transistors, engineers had to move beyond visible light. Extreme ultraviolet lithography uses 13.5-nanometer wavelengths to etch microscopic patterns onto chips. It is a feat of precision so complex that it requires a vacuum environment and the world's most accurate mirrors to function at all.

The journey to extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography began in the mid-1980s, when Hiroo Kinoshita first proposed the concept while working at Nippon Telegraph and Telephone. By 1986, he had successfully demonstrated the first EUV images. This breakthrough was essential because traditional optical lithography, which relied on longer wavelengths like 193 nm, was hitting physical limits in resolution. As Moore's Law demanded higher transistor densities, the industry needed a way to print features at the nanometer scale.

EUV light is uniquely difficult to manage because it is absorbed by air and glass. Consequently, developers had to abandon traditional lenses in favor of reflective optics. These systems use molybdenum-silicon multilayer mirrors, which must be crafted with extreme precision to reflect the 13.5 nm radiation. The development of these mirrors involved decades of research into multilayer reflective coatings, with significant contributions from various research labs and consortia throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

The transition from laboratory curiosity to high-volume manufacturing was a monumental engineering challenge. Early prototypes, such as the alpha demo tool from 2006, were incredibly slow, producing only one wafer in 23 hours. Through continuous improvements in scanner design, light source power, and control systems, modern machines have dramatically increased throughput. Today, these scanners are the backbone of advanced semiconductor fabrication, enabling the production of high-performance, energy-efficient processors that power the modern digital world.

Looking ahead, the field is already pushing toward high-numerical aperture (high-NA) and even hyper-NA systems to achieve even finer resolution. Researchers are exploring new light sources, including free-electron lasers, to scale power beyond 250 W. This ongoing evolution ensures that EUV lithography remains the primary driver for semiconductor scaling, continuing the trajectory first predicted by Gordon Moore in 1965.

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