Only one company in the world makes the Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUV) machine and that is the Dutch firm ASML. The machines are used to help produce chips using the 7nm process node down to 3nm. The latest version of the machine, the High-NA EUV machine, will be used to produce chips made using a 2nm node and lower. As the process node drops, so does the size of the transistors used allowing a chip’s transistor count to rise making it more powerful and/or energy-efficient.
What an EUV does is create complex circuitry patterns thinner than human hair on silicon wafers. The new machines allow more detail to be produced on the wafers helping to simplify the production of chips with complex designs.
As we said, ASML cancelled a $230 purchase of a High-NA EUV. But before you wonder how it could sell this powerful machine for a price that low, it was the Lego version of the ASML TWINSCAN EXE:5000 machine being sold on ASML’s online store. This would be a great gift for the nerd on your shopping list who not only knows what a High-NA EUV machine is, but knows exactly what it does. But before you get ready to open your wallet, we have some bad news.
The lower priced TWINSCAN EUV Lego kit can also be purchased by ASML employees only. | Image credit-ASML
I think that ASML missed an opportunity here to promote the company, chipmaking in general, and its business. The kit has enjoyed such high demand that sales are limited to one per ASML employee. All of the above restrictions also apply to ASML’s lower-priced TWINSCAN Lego kit which started life as a training tool and includes 600 pieces for $166.70.
