阿姆斯特丹，10月8日：该公司及其光学合作伙伴蔡司（Carl Zeiss）的工程师在一篇经过同行评审的论文中表示，ASML最先进芯片制造设备的继任者可能在大约10年后问世。
AMSTERDAM, Oct 8 : A successor to ASML's most advanced chipmaking machine could be ready in about 10 years, engineers for the company and its optics partner Carl Zeiss said in a peer-reviewed paper.
该论文指出，这款名为“Hyper NA”的设备能够在沿用公司现有大量技术的同时，制造出更小的电路结构，但挑战依然存在。
The tool, dubbed "Hyper NA", would print smaller circuitry while re-using much of the companies' existing technology, the paper said, though challenges remain.
ASML已经开始开发这款设备，但尚未承诺投入生产。然而，它对公司自身以及合作伙伴和竞争对手的未来前景都具有重要意义。ASML尚未立即发表评论。
The machine, which ASML has begun developing but has not committed to producing, matters for the company's future prospects, as well as those of its partners and competitors. ASML had no immediate comment.
由于在利用极紫外光（EUV）打印人工智能芯片微小电路的光刻设备领域拥有垄断地位，该公司已成为欧洲市值最高的企业。
The company is Europe's most valuable by market capitalization, thanks to its monopoly on lithography tools that use extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light to print the tiny circuitry of AI chips.
更小、更快的芯片：发表在《微/纳米图案化、材料与计量学杂志》10月刊的这篇论文指出，Hyper NA能够制造出小至5纳米的结构，比ASML目前使用的“High NA”EUV设备小三分之一以上。
SMALLER, FASTER CHIPS The paper in the October issue of the Journal of Micro/Nanopatterning, Materials and Metrology says Hyper NA could print features as small as 5 nanometers, more than a third smaller than ASML's current "High NA" EUV tool.
尽管芯片制造商正在通过三维设计改进芯片，但更小的结构特征仍然是提升速度和降低功耗的关键，而光刻技术则是其中的限制因素。
Though chipmakers are improving chips with 3-D designs, smaller features remain key for speed and power usage, and lithography is a limiting factor.
在芯片制造商中，英特尔已经开始在生产线中使用High NA设备，而三星和SK海力士则表示将于2028年跟进，台积电则计划在2030年采用。
Among chip manufacturers, Intel has begun using High NA in production, while last month Samsung and SK Hynix said they would follow in 2028 and TSMC in 2030.
该论文称，蔡司已经能够制造出足够精确用于Hyper NA的反射镜，而且这款设备的大小将仅略大于High NA设备——后者本身已有双层巴士那么大。
The paper said Zeiss can already make mirrors precise enough for Hyper NA, and the machine would be barely larger than High NA tools, already the size of a double-decker bus.
作者们还表示，在Hyper NA之后，光刻设备可能需要使用更短波长的光，但这仍属于学术研究范畴。
Beyond Hyper NA, the authors said, tools would likely need to use a shorter wavelength of light, still a matter for academic research.
他们指出，ASML目前的光源“可以直接用于”Hyper NA，同时在一则注释中提到，采用自由电子激光的替代技术也不会改变照明系统的设计。
They said ASML's current light source "can be reused as is" for Hyper NA, while mentioning in a note that an alternative technique with free electron lasers would not change the lighting system's design.
这些言论与美国初创公司相关，其中包括 xLight，该公司正在研发自由电子激光光源，埃隆·马斯克曾暗示他可能会在得克萨斯州的 Terafab 芯片工厂中青睐这类光源；此外还有 Substrate，该公司正在推进 X 射线光刻技术。
Those remarks are relevant for US startups including xLight, which is developing free-electron laser light sources that Elon Musk has hinted he might favor at his Terafab chip plant in Texas, and for Substrate, which is pursuing X-ray lithography.