The Impossible Machine

To understand ASML’s power, you have to understand the EUV machine.

It is the most complex piece of equipment ever built by humans. Each one costs

two hundred million dollars, weighs one hundred eighty tons, and contains over

one hundred thousand parts. But it’s the physics that are terrifying.

They take a tiny drop of molten tin, hit it with a CO2 laser

twice... fifty thousand times per second. This creates a plasma that emits

Extreme Ultraviolet light, a light so delicate it is absorbed by air. That’s why the

entire process happens in a vacuum more perfect than outer space. ASML has a