Canon’s nanoimprint lithography threatens ASML’s monopoly

Canon has announced a new nanoimprint lithography system that it says can transfer circuit patterns equivalent to those created by 5nm EUV photolithography. Furthermore, it claims that with the improvements it anticipates in mask technology, the transfer of 2nm-equivalent circuit patterns should be possible.  If this can be done economically, it would be a direct challenge to ASML, which has a monopoly on the EUV (extreme ultraviolet) photolithography equipment used by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to make the most advanced integrated circuits (ICs) designed by Apple, Nvidia and Intel.  In contrast to photolithography, in which light from a scanner passes through a photomask to transfer circuit pattens to a wafer coated with a photosensitive resist, nanoimprint lithography is a miniature mold and stamping process. In nanoimprint lithography, the mask is a mold.