Exposing EUV

Explaining Metal Oxide Resist Bridging, Not Breaking, at Higher EUV Doses

At this year’s SPIE Advanced Lithography conference, ASML and Lam Research presented the latest stochastic defectivity performance for metal oxide EUV…

Apr 22 • Frederick Chen

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EUV Stochastics vs. Stable CD Targeting and Dose Control

Stochastic effects in currently practiced EUV lithography should be widely acknowledged by now.

Apr 11 • Frederick Chen

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March 2026

Estimating EUV Production Wafer Throughput in 2026

Effectively less than 100 wafers per hour estimated for real EUV practice, based on the SK hynix filing two days ago

Mar 26 • Frederick Chen

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A Molecular Origin for Stochastic Defectivity: Pinhole Probability Exponentially Increases in Thinner EUV Resists

A fundamental problem for increasing EUV NA

Mar 19 • Frederick Chen

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February 2026

Explaining ppm-level Stochastic Defectivity in a 3nm Via EUV Lithography Process

In the past few years, there has been a growing effort to predict the probability of the occurrence of EUV stochastic defects [1-8].

Feb 10 • Frederick Chen

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January 2026

How EUV Resist Blur and Dose-Induced Thinning Set the Stochastic Defectivity Floor

In this article, we will dive further into linking electron noise in EUV resists [1] to stochastic defectivity.

Jan 15 • Frederick Chen

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Revisiting Electron Noise in EUV Lithography: It's Pseudo-Poissonian After All!

In previous articles [1,2], I had focused on quantifying electron noise as a function of dose, and assessing the consequences.

Jan 9 • Frederick Chen

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December 2025

Oxidation, Outgassing, and Blistering: Materials Damage in EUV Lithography

Anything exposed to EUV light in an EUV lithography machine is basically being damaged.

Dec 21, 2025 • Frederick Chen

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November 2025

Predicting Stochastic EUV Defect Density with Electron Noise and Resist Blur Models

Recently, the statistics of secondary electron noise and its impact on defect probability in EUV lithography has been directly addressed for the first…

Nov 1, 2025 • Frederick Chen

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October 2025

How Secondary Electrons Worsen EUV Stochastics

Increasing dose not only faces diminishing returns, but lets electron noise dominate over photon noise.

Oct 5, 2025 • Frederick Chen

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September 2025

EUV Lithography Without Pellicles: Accounting for Low Yields

While stochastic defects link yield with the practical resolution of EUV lithography resulting from its quantum nature [1], very low yields of EUV…

Sep 9, 2025 • Frederick Chen

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August 2025

EUV Resist Degradation with Outgassing at Higher Doses

Dosing for EUV lithography walks a fine line between productivity and defectivity.

Aug 30, 2025 • Frederick Chen

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