Ever since the first computer chip was created the size of transistors on chips has been getting smaller and smaller. Gordon Moore, who went on to co-found Intel, predicted the doubling of number of transistors on a chip would double every two years, over the last 60 years this has been true but only thanks to some incredible technological breakthroughs.

In 2018 the most advanced chip making machine was made available for mass production by Dutch company ASML. The machine uses EUV (extreme ultraviolet light) to etch transistors just 1 nanometre wide. Many companies within the semiconductor industry have spent the last 30 years trying to crack this technology but ASML is the only company to ever do so.

In this episode we find out how ASML, despite only being founded in 1985, have become Europe’s largest tech company and the process they went through developing their EUV machine and how it works.

Guests

Christophe Fouquet, ASML Board Member

The post #229 Chip Manufacturing and the World’s Most Complex Machine first appeared on Engineering Matters.