For those who have found the early spring news cycle inconducive to light reading, it is understandable if you missed last month’s release of Invest-NL’s report that scrutinizes the Dutch and European semiconductor sector. The 134-page report from the Netherlands-based deep tech firm identifies and exposits the core themes shaping the growth trajectory of this industry.
Certain elements of the report, which is available in English, will be familiar to Photonics Spectra readers; many similar reports taking stock of the U.S. and European chip sectors were published in the lead-up to the CHIPS and Science Act and European Chips Act, and updated perspectives continue to be published in their aftermath. Invest-NL focuses on the notion of scaling — namely, devices, circuitry, and architectures. Scaling up funding for startup companies is identified as a major nontechnical hurdle. The technical challenges cited, meanwhile, are neither revelatory nor exclusive to Dutch or European players.
But the Invest-NL report accomplishes two things that distinguish it from similar reports and road maps. First, in its final sections, the messaging shifts from technical and monetary challenges to areas of opportunity. It is a subtle pivot, but a useful reframing of the current semiconductor technology landscape.
Second, the report devotes a section exclusively to metrology opportunities. Metrology is never far from any conversation on semiconductor technology, especially in the context of manufacturing. Too often, though, the potential to innovate test and measurement equipment and protocols is left undiscussed and unexplored.
There are several angles from which one can begin to approach semiconductor metrology. Through a materials lens, new material platforms are flourishing, establishing a need for measurement and evaluation methods that can ensure required levels of material purity. For equipment makers, emerging technologies are a catalyst for improved machines. The reverse can be true as well. Scanning probe microscopy and scatterometry are among the techniques well suited to support ongoing and anticipated gains in semiconductor technology, according to the report.
The report also discusses the dynamic that exists between metrology and the use of extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) sources in chipmaking. Netherlands-based ASML enjoys a bona fide commercial monopoly on EUV lithography machines. In this sense, advancements in EUV metrology, as it relates to chipmaking, have been tied to ASML just as much as they have been tied to EUV itself.
In recent weeks, questions regarding ASML’s grasp of this technology space have surfaced, and this dynamic has become more intriguing. China-based Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment and Huawei are both reported to be readying EUV technology for mass production next year. This is significant on the basis of global competition alone. But it is particularly noteworthy given the export controls that ASML faces, which aim to restrict its technology from spurring growth in China’s chipmaking industry.
Just as metrology is never far from conversations on semiconductor technology, the realities of the U.S.-China trade war create a bubble around this conversation. The technologies enabling advanced chipmaking will certainly advance in the coming months, which will no doubt occur in a tense and
high-stakes economic environment.
Advancements in metrology are likely, too. And they will surely garner much less attention. For many, the opportunities, however, are vast.
