ASML revolutionizes chipmaking with extreme UV nanolithography

[00:00:00]This is the craziest tech company in the world, ASML. Every computer chip Nvidia, Apple, Intel, Samsung relies on ASML. If you think AI is created solely by programmers, you're mistaken. [music] It's companies like ASML that build the foundational chips making AI possible.

[00:00:14]But how do these machines work? ASML ejects molten tin droplets thinner than a human hair. A laser shoots each droplet turning it into plasma hotter than the sun. This [music] extreme heat emits ultraviolet light, pure madness.

[00:00:24]ASML directs this UV light via precise mirrors onto a stencil with a microscopic chip pattern. The pattern projects onto a silicon wafer, nano lithography burning [music] the chip design. This repeats thousands of times layer by layer forming billions of transistors. [music] And here's what's truly wild, the distance between them is a few atoms. For this to work, precision must be off the charts, like shooting a laser from the moon at a coin on Earth.

[00:00:44]Sounds insane, but this is the reality of the modern semiconductor industry.