ASML accelerates High NA EUV toward high-volume production with 10 systems operating

ASML says its High NA EUV technology is moving from technical validation toward high-volume manufacturing, with 10 systems already operating at four customer sites.

The company presented the latest progress at the SEMICON Taiwan 2026 advanced-process technology forum. It said EXE systems worldwide have accumulated more than 1.35 million exposed wafers, while three additional systems are being shipped or installed.

ASML said its certified EXE:5200B reached productivity of 135 wafers per hour in acceptance testing. The system also showed overlay accuracy, focus performance and overall machine capability suitable for production environments. Fleet availability for High NA EUV systems has reached 84 percent, and ASML is targeting 93 percent.

The company said High NA EUV has reached a milestone by entering a high-volume logic product for the first time. Its 0.55 numerical aperture is designed to support continued process scaling, including up to five future technology nodes for 2D DRAM scaling. ASML also said the technology can allow more layers to use single-exposure patterning instead of more complex multiple-exposure processes, potentially reducing process complexity and cost.

ASML’s roadmap calls for raising EXE acceptance-test productivity from 135 to 180 wafers per hour before the decade ends. Planned improvements include higher wafer-level EUV source power and faster wafer and mask handling. The company said its 0.55 NA EUV roadmap is designed to support a stable platform for more than 10 years.