""For far too long, America ceded the frontier of advanced lithography to others," Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. "This partnership would back a technology that can fundamentally rewrite the limits of chipmaking. Best of all, we would be doing it here at home.""
""With the support from Commerce, our investors, and development partners, xLight is building its first free-electron laser system at the Albany Nanotech Complex, where the world's best lithography capabilities will enable the research and development that will define the future of chip manufacturing," xLight CEO Nichol"
The US Department of Commerce has signed a preliminary letter of intent to provide up to $150 million to xLight, a Palo Alto startup led by Pat Gelsinger. The CHIPS Research and Development Office proposes the funding under the CHIPS and Science Act. The funding would support development and demonstration of a free-electron laser (FEL) prototype as an alternative light source for EUV lithography used in advanced chip manufacturing. The Department of Commerce would receive $150 million of equity in xLight in return. The agency stated that FEL sources could potentially offer more powerful and cost-effective means for sub-7 nm transistor production, while ASML remains the current market leader with expensive TWINSCAN EXE:5000 systems.
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