About ASML
Technology
Enabling the world’s most advanced chips
ASML develops the lithography systems that enable the world’s leading chipmakers to mass produce microchip patterns on silicon wafers. Our holistic approach integrates computational modelling, optical metrology and e-beam inspection with lithography systems so chipmakers can meet their most stringent patterning requirements and optimise their chipmaking processes quickly and at the right cost.
A lithography system is essentially a projection system. Light is projected through a blueprint of the pattern that will be printed (known as a ‘mask’ or ‘reticle’). The blueprint is four times larger than the intended pattern on the chip. With the pattern encoded in the light, the system’s optics shrink and focus the pattern onto a photosensitive silicon wafer. After the pattern is printed, the system moves the wafer slightly and makes another copy on the wafer.
This process is repeated until the wafer is covered in patterns, completing one layer of the wafer’s chips. To make an entire microchip, this process will be repeated 100 times or more, laying patterns on top of patterns. The size of the features to be printed varies depending on the layer, which means that different types of lithography systems are used for different layers – from our latest-generation EUV systems for the smallest features to older DUV systems for the largest.
Talent
Building your career at the edge of innovation
Working at ASML means contributing to technology that is among the most complex in the world. Engineers, scientists and manufacturing specialists work together in multidisciplinary teams, combining different perspectives to solve technical challenges and continuously improve the next generation of lithography systems.
Employees are encouraged to shape their own career through internal mobility, training programmes and continuous learning. Whether broadening your expertise or specialising in a specific field, ASML offers countless opportunities to grow while working on technologies with global impact.
Shaping your own career path
Mechatronics Architect Thijs Clevis joined ASML after completing his master’s degree in applied physics. Over the past 13 years, he has held eight different positions across three departments. His career illustrates the wide range of opportunities available within the company and the freedom employees must develop in their own direction.
According to Thijs, working at ASML is about much more than technical expertise. The complexity of the machines requires close collaboration across disciplines, while knowledge sharing and continuous learning are part of everyday work. “I compare it to a trail map. Some people want to walk around a lake, others prefer to climb a mountain. At ASML, whichever route you choose, it’s all fine.”
Thijs believes that personal initiative is key to building a successful career. Employees are encouraged to explore new roles, follow training programmes and learn from colleagues across the organisation.
“There are countless opportunities to seize, but you must take the initiative yourself. You can keep growing without ever leaving the company.”
Societal impact
Hard to imagine a world without microchips
It is hard to imagine the world without microchips. They are at the heart of the devices that we use to work, travel, stay healthy and be entertained – from smartphones to cars, from MRI scanners to industrial robots. Delivering new functionalities, better performance and lower cost with each generation, advances in chips have spawned new products and transformed industries. New technologies and trends, such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality and the Internet of Things, result in additional demand for semiconductor chips to generate, transfer, store, analyze and apply vast amounts of data.
Helping solve society’s toughest challenges
ASML is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of chip-making equipment. ASML’s vision is a world in which semiconductor technology is everywhere and helps to tackle society’s toughest challenges. ASML contributes to this goal by creating products and services that let chipmakers define the patterns that integrated circuits are made of. The company continuously raises the capabilities of its products, enabling its customers to increase the value and reduce the cost of chips. By helping to make chips cheaper and more powerful, ASML helps to make semiconductor technology more attractive for a larger range of products and services, which in turn enables progress in fields such as healthcare, energy, mobility and entertainment.
Role in Brainport
Strengthening the Brainport innovation ecosystem
ASML is deeply rooted in the Brainport region, where collaboration is essential to innovation. The company works closely with suppliers, universities, research institutes and technology partners to develop the next generation of semiconductor technology. By combining expertise across the ecosystem, new ideas move more quickly from research to real-world applications.
Innovation through long-term partnerships
Innovation at ASML is built on long-term partnerships based on trust and shared knowledge. Together with organisations such as TU/e, imec, ARCNL and other leading research partners, ASML continuously advances the technologies that power the global semiconductor industry.
Beyond research, ASML actively supports the regional innovation ecosystem by sharing expertise with startups and scaleups. Through initiatives such as HighTechXL and the Eindhoven Startup Alliance, the company helps entrepreneurs develop new technologies, strengthen the high-tech supply chain and contribute to the continued growth of the Brainport region as one of Europe’s leading high-tech ecosystems.