Chinese researchers have achieved a major advancement in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light source technology, crucial for producing advanced chips. This breakthrough involves the development of an EUV light source platform operating at internationally competitive levels.
The research team was led by Lin Nan, a former head of light source technology at ASML, the world's sole manufacturer of EUV machines. Lin's expertise and return to China under the country's overseas talent recruitment program played a significant role in this achievement.
ASML's advanced EUV machines are currently restricted from sale to China due to US sanctions. This Chinese breakthrough challenges the existing global semiconductor landscape and potentially reduces China's reliance on foreign technology for advanced chip production. ASML's CEO previously stated it would take many years for China to independently produce EUV machines.
Lin Nan's expertise was further enhanced by her mentorship under Anne L’Huillier, a 2023 Nobel laureate in physics.
The team, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, was led by Lin Nan, previously head of light source technology at ASML in the Netherlands.
In a call to investors on April 16, ASML chief executive Christophe Fouquet said that it was “always possible to generate some EUV light, but it would take many, many years for China to make an EUV machine”.
Lin returned to China in 2021 as part of the country’s overseas high-level recruitment drive and founded the advanced photolithography technology research group that was responsible for the paper.
Before joining ASML, Lin was mentored by Anne L’Huillier, winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize for physics and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, as part of a scholarship awarded by the European Union’s Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions programme.
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