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It's the Most Indispensable Machine in the World--and It Depends on This Woman [View all]
Scary and fascinating!
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/asml-euv-machine-lithography-chips-967954d0
FREE to read at archival link: https://archive.ph/1i4JW
I got a rare look at the one tool responsible for all the tech in your life. It’s made by a company you’ve never heard of. And it’s maintained by hidden figures like her.
. . .
The piece of equipment that the entire world has come to rely on—and she is specially trained to handle—is called an extreme ultraviolet lithography machine.
It’s the machine that produces the most advanced microchips on the planet. It was built with scientific technologies that sound more like science fiction—breakthroughs so improbable that they were once dismissed as impossible. And it has transformed wafers of silicon into the engines of modern life.
Even today, there are only a few hundred of these EUV machines in existence—and they are ludicrously expensive. The one that Hall maintains cost $170 million, while the latest models sell for roughly $370 million.
But maybe the most remarkable thing about these invaluable machines is that they’re all made by the same company: ASML. ...
. . .
The piece of equipment that the entire world has come to rely on—and she is specially trained to handle—is called an extreme ultraviolet lithography machine.
It’s the machine that produces the most advanced microchips on the planet. It was built with scientific technologies that sound more like science fiction—breakthroughs so improbable that they were once dismissed as impossible. And it has transformed wafers of silicon into the engines of modern life.
Even today, there are only a few hundred of these EUV machines in existence—and they are ludicrously expensive. The one that Hall maintains cost $170 million, while the latest models sell for roughly $370 million.
But maybe the most remarkable thing about these invaluable machines is that they’re all made by the same company: ASML. ...
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