According to foreign media reports, a secret laboratory in China has quietly assembled the first prototype of an EUV extreme ultraviolet lithography system. It was developed by reverse engineering ASML's existing lithography machine products. It is in the secret testing stage and plans to trial-produce prototype chips in 2028.If the news is true, it is undoubtedly a leap forward for China, which has mastered technology that originally took decades in just a few years.
According to sources, this EUV lithography machine prototype was assembled in a tightly secured facility in Shenzhen in early 2025, covering almost the entire factory.
It does not use the particle accelerator-based steady-state micro-beaming (SSMB) technology developed by Tsinghua University, nor the discharge plasma (DPP) technology developed by Harbin Institute of Technology. Instead, it uses the same laser plasma (LPP) technology as the ASML Twinscan NXE series lithography machine, which can produce extreme ultraviolet light with a wavelength of 13.5 nanometers.
Foreign media said that this shows that it uses reverse engineering methods and at least integrates a large number of core technologies pioneered by ASML.
The technical principles of ASML LPP are as follows:
First, molten tin droplets with a diameter of about 25-30 microns are injected into the vacuum chamber at a speed of about 50,000 per second.
Then, a high-power carbon dioxide laser fires a low-intensity pre-pulse laser beam at each droplet, flattening the droplets into a disk shape.
Then, a main pulse laser with stronger energy is emitted to vaporize the flattened tin target, forming an ultra-high temperature plasma with a temperature exceeding 200,000 degrees Celsius.
This plasma can emit isotropic extreme ultraviolet light, which is then collected by a large multi-layer film collection mirror and introduced into the reflection optical system of the lithography machine to ultimately complete lithography imaging of the silicon wafer.
This process can be repeated tens of thousands of times per second.
The report pointed out thatThe Chinese version of the EUV lithography machine is significantly larger than similar ASML products, but it already has the ability to generate extreme ultraviolet light, but it has not yet been able to produce usable chips.
The key bottleneck is that China is still unable to reproduce ASML's high-precision optical system, or even accurately project extreme ultraviolet light onto the wafer, let alone complete lithography imaging.
At the same time, the power index of the extreme ultraviolet light source is also unclear, which is the core parameter that determines whether the lithography machine can achieve mass production.
In addition, the research and development progress of core components of lithography machines such as ultra-high-precision collection mirror systems, illumination optical systems, projection optical systems, wafer storage systems, wafer tables, and mask tables are also unknown.
The report mentioned that the R&D team of China's EUV lithography machine is composed of former ASML engineers and recent university graduates. It not only hired former employees of ASML's Chinese branch, but also absorbed former employees of ASML in the United States, Europe, and Taiwan.
For example, Lin Nan, who was once responsible for ASML EUV light source technology, is currently leading a team to carry out research and development at the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Precision Machinery, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and has applied for 8 EUV-related patents in just 18 months.
The report also emphasized that in order to maintain confidentiality, the team generally used false identities.
It is said that the team’s plan is to produce the first batch of chip prototypes in 2028, that is, within the next two to three years, but foreign media believe that 2030 is a more realistic time node.
To be clear,The research and development of high-end lithography machines is inseparable from the deep integration of technologies in multiple fields such as precision light sources, advanced optics, ultra-high-precision machinery, complex control software, special materials, etc., and all systems must operate stably and long-term within nanometer tolerances.
EUV lithography machines are extremely complex, containing more than 100,000 parts. It is extremely difficult to reverse engineer them. It requires hundreds of engineers with professional knowledge to work together to solve the problem, but it may not be successful.
ASML also stated after seeing the report: "The idea of replicating our technology is understandable, but it is not easy to actually put it into practice."
