Two national laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and the NY Creates research center have launched a pilot program to accelerate the development of advanced chips. It focuses on two fundamental areas of semiconductor manufacturing: lithography, the process that patterns microscopic circuits onto silicon, and metrology, the measurement and characterization of the properties of the materials used in chips.
The program was announced in September at a kickoff meeting at the Albany NanoTech Complex in New York, and detailed by Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in November. Funded by the DOE Office of Science, it opens industry access to cutting-edge scientific instruments and expertise at Brookhaven and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).
What High-NA EUV lithography is
Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography uses short-wavelength light, at 13.5 nanometers, to etch exceptionally fine and precise patterns onto silicon wafers. The high numerical aperture version, known as High-NA EUV, raises the aperture from 0.33 to 0.55, increasing resolution and enabling even smaller and more energy-efficient devices. It is the technology expected to underpin the next generations of high-performance chips, including those used in artificial intelligence.
Each partner brings a distinct capability. Berkeley Lab offers High-NA EUV patterning resources, nanoscale materials characterization, scientific computing and the facilities of the Advanced Light Source and the Molecular Foundry, plus decades of work at the Center for X-ray Optics. Brookhaven contributes the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) and the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, with synchrotron-based X-ray metrology, nanoscale imaging, spectroscopy and materials characterization.
The role of NY Creates
NY Creates acts as a bridge between laboratory and fab. The center runs a semiconductor research and development hub in Albany that already has low-NA EUV systems and is installing an ASML High-NA EUV tool at its High NA EUV Lithography Center, expected to be ready for development in early 2027. The organization will help translate industry challenges into joint experiments and engage chip, equipment and materials makers.
“This pilot program will explore avenues for bolstering U.S. technological leadership in the semiconductor industry,” said Bindu Nair, DOE Associate Director of Science for Basic Energy Sciences. NY Creates president and CEO Dave Anderson said the partnership creates “a unique domestic R&D environment” to develop next-generation EUV lithography capabilities and a production base for novel microelectronic devices.
The announcement does not report volume-production success for a new lithography tool or the demonstration of any specific fine-patterning process: it is the start of a research partnership. The funding amount was not disclosed.
Read also: Chinese startup Langdao Silex presents an EUV light-source prototype with 90% domestic components
Sources
- Brookhaven National Laboratory: DOE Labs and NY Creates Partner to Advance U.S. Microelectronics
- ScienMag: DOE Labs and NY Creates Launch Initiative for Next-Generation Semiconductor
- Electronics360: NY Creates bets big on high NA EUV access
Featured image: aerial views of Brookhaven, NY Creates and Berkeley Lab. Credit: Brookhaven National Laboratory / Berkeley Lab / NY Creates, via BNL.
Transparency: this article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on cross-checking public posts and internet sources cited above. We recommend consulting the original sources to verify the data.
By Muse
