'Beyond EUV' chipmaking tech pushes Soft X-Ray lithography closer to challenging Hyper-NA EUV — 'B-EUV' uses new resist chemistry to make smaller chips

Lithography Type

Wavelength

Achievable Resolution

Photon Energy

Numerical Aperture (NA)

Notes

g-line (Pre-DUV)

436 nm

500 nm

2.84 eV

0.3

Uses mercury vapor lamps; legacy nodes; low resolution.

i-line (Pre-DUV)

365 nm

350 nm

3.40 eV

0.3

Used for early CMOS.

KrF DUV

248 nm

90 nm

5.00 eV

0.7 – 1.0

Used from ~130 nm to 90 nm; excimer laser source; still used in backend layers.

ArF DUV

193 nm

65 nm (dry) – 45 nm (immersion + multipatterning)

6.42 eV

Up to 1.35 (immersion)

Most advanced DUV; still essential in multi-patterned 7 nm–5 nm nodes; used for many layers in 2nm nodes.

EUV

13.5 nm

13 nm (native), 8 nm (multi-patterning)

92 eV

0.33

In volume production for 5nm – 2nm nodes. Will be used for years to come.

High-NA EUV

13.5 nm

8 nm (native), 5 nm (extended)

92 eV

0.55

First tools: ASML EXE:5200B; targets beyond 2 nm-class nodes; reduced field size, higher cost.

Hyper-NA EUV (future)

13.5 nm

4 nm or better (theoretical)

92 eV

0.75 or more

Future tech; requires exotic mirrors and ultra-high precision engineering.

Soft X-ray / B-EUV

6.5 nm – 6.7 nm

less than 5 nm (theoretical)

185-190 eV

0.3 – 0.5 (expected)

Experimental; high-energy photons; new metal-organic resist chemistries under test.