The world’s most complex machine, developed by ASML. The Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machine for manufacturing integrated circuits.
-Component Count: A single EUV machine contains over 700,000 individual parts. For comparison, a typical modern car contains roughly 30,000 parts.
-Precision: It etches circuit patterns onto silicon wafers with atomic-level precision. The mirrors used to guide the light are so smooth that if they were expanded to the size of a country, the largest bump would be less than a millimeter high.
-Extreme Physics: To generate the required light, the machine fires 50,000 droplets of molten tin every second into a vacuum, then blasts them twice with a high-power laser to create plasma reaching 220,000°C—roughly 40 times hotter than the surface of the sun.
-Logistics: Due to its massive size (comparable to a large truck or shipping container) and weight (up to 180 tons), a single machine requires seven Boeing 747s to transport it to a customer.
