[News] China Unveiled its First Commercial Electron Beam Lithography Machine

[News] China Unveiled its First Commercial Electron Beam Lithography Machine



On August 13, China’s first domestically developed commercial electron beam lithography machine, Xizhi, was officially unveiled in Yuhang, Zhejiang.

According to Hangzhou Government Website, this machine is one of the first projects signed at Zhejiang University’s Technology Commercialization Base. It has already been tested at a client site, with precision on par with mainstream international equipment. This milestone marks that quantum chip R&D now has its own “Chinese engraving knife.”

A member of the R&D team explained that Xizhi is dedicated to the core stages of quantum chip and next-generation semiconductor research. It uses a high-energy electron beam to “handwrite” circuits on silicon substrates, achieving a precision of 0.6nm and a line width of 8nm. Its designs can be flexibly modified without the need for a mask, like drawing with a nanometer-scale brush directly on the chip—particularly well-suited for the iterative debugging required in the early stages of chip development.

Previously, such equipment was restricted by international export controls, leaving top Chinese research institutions like the University of Science and Technology of China and the Zhejiang Lab unable to procure them. The launch of Xizhi is expected to cross the hurdle, with multiple research institutions already in discussions.

The successful application testing of the Xizhi electron beam lithography machine represents a major breakthrough in the domestic development of high-end semiconductor core equipment. This independently developed “Chinese engraving knife” will provide a solid foundation for accelerating the R&D of advanced domestic chips and securing a strategic edge in future technology.

(Photo credit: FREEPIK)

Please note that this article cites information from Hangzhou Government Website.