For decades, the miniaturization of electronic chips has relied on increasingly sophisticated engraving technologies, approaching their physical limits. As circuits reach nanometric dimensions, the light used to draw them becomes a challenge. Helium atom lithography offers a breakthrough by replacing photons with particles that can bypass these constraints and open up new prospects for the semiconductor industry.
Lace Lithography, founded in 2023 in Bergen, Norway, is working on a radically different engraving tool from those currently used in factories. Instead of the extreme ultraviolet light used by Dutch company ASML, the startup sends a beam of helium atoms onto silicon wafers. Physicist Bodil Holst from Denmark-Norway and engineer Adrià Salvador Palau from Spain lead the company from offices in Bergen and Barcelona. In March, Lace raised $40 million in funding led by European fund Atomico, with participation from Microsoft’s M12 fund.
Today, ASML’s most advanced machines project extreme ultraviolet light with a wavelength of 13.5 nanometers to engrave circuits. However, Lace’s helium beam is only 0.1 nanometers wide, 135 times smaller. Unlike photons, atoms do not experience diffraction limits, a physical barrier that prevents light from drawing patterns below a certain size. This property could theoretically allow for engraving patterns ten times smaller than those produced by current equipment.
The team presented its progress in February at the SPIE Advanced Lithography conference, a major event in the semiconductor industry. Prototypes already function in the laboratory, and the startup aims to install a testing tool in a pilot factory by 2029. More than 50 engineers and researchers are now working on the project, spread across Norway, Spain, the UK, and the Netherlands.
If the technology delivers on its promises, it would offer a less expensive and less energy-intensive engraving method than ultraviolet light systems. ASML’s most advanced machines cost over $350 million each.
Europe currently has a player in lithography equipment with ASML, but the manufacturing of the most advanced chips remains largely concentrated in Asia, particularly at TSMC. Lace has received significant support from the European Innovation Council and Innovasjon Norge, even before Atomico’s entry into its capital. The emergence of this startup reflects Europe’s determination not to let the next technological breakthrough happen elsewhere.
The transition from a laboratory prototype to a tool capable of mass-producing chips remains challenging. There is no guarantee yet that the process will be viable industrially, and there are still many technical hurdles to overcome. However, if Lace manages to cross this hurdle, Europe could add a new groundbreaking lithography technology developed on its own soil to its established lead with ASML.
