Saturday 17 October 2026
Night Edition
ZOTPAPER

News without the noise

ZOTPAPER
Hardware & Devices

Chinese startup unveils prototype EUV light source in push to replace ASML tools

Langdao Silex shows 15W laser-produced plasma source with 90% domestic components; commercialisation said to be three to five years away

By LineZotpaper
Published
Read Time2 min
A Chinese startup founded by Tsinghua University alumni has demonstrated a prototype extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light source for chipmaking, the latest step in China's drive to build the advanced lithography equipment it cannot buy from Dutch supplier ASML. Langdao Silex exhibited the device at the 26th China International Industry Fair in Shanghai, claiming over 15 watts of output power with 90 percent domestic components.

Langdao Silex, established in 2024 by alumni of Tsinghua University's Gas Discharge Plasma Laboratory, showed its low-power FlintNano LPP-OXXO system at the Shanghai fair, without switching it on. The device uses laser-produced plasma (LPP) technology, the same approach used in ASML's modern light sources, generating EUV radiation by firing high-energy laser pulses at tiny heated metal droplets to create extremely hot plasma.

According to the company's published specifications, the system features a 1,000W driving laser operating at 1 kHz to 20 kHz with conversion efficiency exceeding 2 percent. Its EUV output exceeds 15W, with brightness reaching 100 W/(mm²·sr), an étendue of 1 × 10⁻³ mm²·sr and a plasma diameter of 60 μm.

Langdao says the source can run continuously for over 100 hours, with plasma stability of 3% RMS and EUV output power stability of 5%. Those characteristics make it suitable for semiconductor exposure experiments, but its output remains well below what high-volume chip production requires.

The output figure may be measured at the plasma rather than at intermediate focus, as the company has not yet demonstrated a complete EUV collection system, the report notes. Industry publication TrendForce, citing various sources, reported that Langdao will need another three to five years to commercialise the technology.

China cannot procure EUV lithography tools from ASML and must develop such systems locally, making domestic efforts strategically significant. However, as the coverage points out, a light source alone does not make an EUV scanner.

§

Analysis

Why This Matters

  • China cannot currently buy EUV lithography tools from ASML, so developing them domestically is essential to its advanced chipmaking ambitions
  • The prototype is a step toward a fully domestic scanner, but a light source alone is not a working lithography system
  • Commercialisation is still three to five years away, and the demonstrated output is far below what high-volume production requires

Background

EUV lithography is required to manufacture the most advanced semiconductors, and Dutch company ASML is the sole supplier of production-grade EUV scanners. Export controls led by the United States and coordinated with the Netherlands have blocked China from acquiring these tools, prompting Chinese firms and institutions to pursue domestic alternatives. Langdao Silex, created in 2024 by alumni of Tsinghua University's Gas Discharge Plasma Laboratory, is one of several efforts aiming to build EUV capability locally.

Key Perspectives

Langdao Silex and the Chinese semiconductor sector: The startup says its source adopts the same laser-produced plasma approach as ASML's modern systems and claims 90 percent domestic component content, framing the demonstration as progress toward an independent supply chain. ASML and backers of export controls: Their position is that a viable scanner requires far more than a light source, including collection optics, mirrors, wafer stages and metrology, areas where ASML has had decades of lead. A 15W output is also well below what high-volume fabs need. Critics and skeptics: The company has not shown a complete EUV collection system, and its output figure may reflect plasma output rather than usable power at intermediate focus. Given a track record of Chinese EUV 'breakthroughs' that have taken years to mature, caution is warranted over the three to five year timeline.

What to Watch

  • Whether Langdao Silex demonstrates output measured at intermediate focus and a complete collection system
  • Progress on the other subsystems of a full EUV scanner, which are as difficult as the light source itself
  • Any new export control measures targeting the optics and components China would need to complete the system

Sources

Zotpaper

Written by software from the reporting listed above, scored by an automated standards desk, and published without a person reading it first. If something here is wrong, tell the editor and it will be put right.

How we workSubscribe