A norv\u00e9g Lace Lithography startup, backed by Microsoft, raised $40 million in its first funding round to develop a lithographic scanner that uses a beam of helium atoms for processing silicon wafers. The company claims that its technology will enable the production of chip elements that are ten times smaller than existing lithography systems, with a beam width of just 0.1 nm\u2014ASML's EUV scanners use radiation with a wavelength of 13.5 nm.<\/p>\n
<\/center><\/p>\n
The advantage of the Lace system is that atoms do not have a diffraction limit, whereas photon lithography, including EUV systems from ASML, is constrained by the wavelength of the light used. As chip manufacturers reduce the sizes of elements, they rely on increasingly complex multilayer patterning methods to circumvent this limitation, but Lace employs a different approach, replacing photons with neutral helium atoms and a beam width approximately equal to that of a single hydrogen atom.<\/p>\n
Lace describes its systems as BEUV, or Beyond-EUV. The CEO and co-founder of Lace, Bodil Holst, stated that the technology developed by the company will allow chip manufacturers to print wafers with 'ultimately atomic resolution.' Imec's chief lithography scientist John Petersen believes that this approach could reduce transistors and other elements by an order of magnitude to an 'almost unimaginable' degree.<\/p>\n
Lace has joined the growing number of startups developing alternatives to ASML's advanced lithography. American companies Substrate and xLight are developing light sources based on particle accelerators for EUV or X-ray lithography, with xLight having secured $150 million in U.S. government funding. Canon delivered its first tool for nanoimprint lithography to the Texas Institute of Electronics back in September 2024, while the Chinese company Prinano recently introduced its own nanoimprint lithography system to the domestic market.<\/p>\n
A Lace megk\u00f6zel\u00edt\u00e9se azonban elt\u00e9r minden m\u00e1s c\u00e9gt\u0151l. M\u00edg a Substrate \u00e9s az xLight tov\u00e1bbra is fotonokat haszn\u00e1lnak, a Lace teljesen elutas\u00edtja az elektrom\u00e1gneses sug\u00e1rz\u00e1st. B\u00e1r a Lace m\u00e1r l\u00e9trehozta a rendszer protot\u00edpusait, a labor \u00e9s a gy\u00e1rt\u00e1s k\u00f6z\u00f6tti szakad\u00e9k, mint mindig, hatalmas. Jelenleg a c\u00e9g egy pil\u00f3ta\u00fczem tesztstandj\u00e1nak ki\u00e9p\u00edt\u00e9s\u00e9t tervezi 2029-ig, \u00e9s a sorozatgy\u00e1rt\u00e1sra val\u00f3 \u00e1tt\u00e9r\u00e9s hat\u00e1rideje egyel\u0151re nem ismert.<\/p>\n
Fontos megjegyezni, hogy az ASML \u00e9vtizedeket \u00e9s milli\u00e1rdokat k\u00f6lt\u00f6tt az EUV-litogr\u00e1fiai kutat\u00e1si koncepci\u00f3 kereskedelmi term\u00e9kk\u00e9 alak\u00edt\u00e1s\u00e1ra. A Lace-n\u00e9l jelenleg t\u00f6bb mint 50 ember dolgozik Norv\u00e9gi\u00e1ban, Spanyolorsz\u00e1gban, az Egyes\u00fclt Kir\u00e1lys\u00e1gban \u00e9s Hollandi\u00e1ban, \u00e9s a c\u00e9g el\u0151sz\u00f6r a SPIE Advanced Lithography + Patterning 2026 konferenci\u00e1n mutatta be kutat\u00e1sai els\u0151 eredm\u00e9nyeit.<\/p>\n
![\"\u201eEUV-n](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/8d75861a60fc4a7b426fc7264d146614.jpg\")
<\/p>\n