One would expect that reverse engineering technologies wouldn’t be impossible.
The importance of these technologies for China is huge.
Moreover, they have a massive budget and probably also own a couple of ASML’s euv lithography machines.
Why is it that they cant remake these machines?
I heard some sources say that it might take them a decade.
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I’m working for one of ASML’s suppliers: ZEISS, who are producing the optical components for the lithography machines.
The main obstacle to reproducing this tech is detailed process knowledge and not just building the machine itself. Just to produce the mirrors for this system hundreds of problems have to be solved every day. This includes seemingly trivial questions like:
– What should the transport box for this mirror component look like?
– This cleaning agent seems to increase the roughness of the mirrors. Can it be replaced with something better?
– The yield has decreased by 4 %. Where in the 10-step production process did a problem sneak in?
Now multiply this by a factor of a hundred for every high-tech component in the machinery: The EUV light source by Trump or the stage system for the silicon wafers which has to be accurate to a few nanometers and withstand insane accelerations. China doesn’t just have to copy the EUV machine. And has to build a new high-tech industry and copy the world’s leading companies in laser technology, optics, piezo stage design, and more.
If you ask me they should instead attempt to build alternative approaches like electron beam lithography or ion beam lithography. Those aren’t any easier to build but at least they don’t start the race 10 years behind.
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