Canon's Nanoimprint Lithography Challenges EUV Dominance

Canon has launched a chip manufacturing technology called nanoimprint lithography (NIL), capable of 14-nanometer precision, challenging the extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) technology currently monopolized by ASML. NIL offers lower costs, lower energy consumption, and a simpler process, transferring circuit patterns onto silicon wafers using a 'stamping' method. Despite a 20-year development period, NIL has overcome challenges such as resist control, bubble elimination, and alignment accuracy, and the first commercial system has been delivered. In the future, NIL is poised to gain a foothold in memory and logic chip manufacturing, especially in applications demanding cost-effectiveness and efficiency.