ASML and Zeiss Engineers Publish a “Hyper NA” Chipmaking Concept. It Is Not a Product.

Engineers at chip-equipment maker ASML and its optics partner Carl Zeiss have published a paper describing a concept for a future chipmaking machine they call “hyper NA”. Reuters reported on 8 October 2026 that ASML “has begun developing but has not committed to producing” it.

What the paper says

Confirmed (journal paper; TSN read the abstract only). Two engineers at Carl Zeiss SMT and one at ASML Netherlands published “Hyper NA: a system with a numerical aperture of at least 0.75” on 1 October 2026 [1]. EUV (extreme ultraviolet) scanners are the machines that use very short-wavelength light to print the finest circuit patterns on chips. The abstract says: “EUV scanners with a numerical aperture (NA) of 0.55 have recently been introduced into the market and are now on their way to high-volume production.” It then says: “We present the concept of an EUV scanner with an NA of at least 0.75, named hyper NA.” [1]

Numerical aperture measures how wide a cone of light a machine’s optics can gather. A higher number lets it focus light more sharply, so it can print smaller details.

Why reuse matters

The abstract says: “Hyper NA can support an NA of 0.75 within practically the same volume claim as the current NA 0.55 scanners. The current light source can be reused as-is, and modern mask absorbers such as low-n or high-k are also sufficient for hyper NA.” [1] A mask is the stencil that carries the circuit pattern. The authors conclude that hyper NA “offers an infrastructure-compatible path” [1].

What Reuters adds

Reported (Reuters, 8 October 2026). Reuters says a successor to ASML’s most advanced machine “could be ready in about 10 years, engineers for the company and its optics partner Carl Zeiss said in a peer-reviewed paper” [2]. It says the paper puts hyper NA as able to print features “as small as 5 nanometers, more than a third smaller than ASML’s current “High NA” EUV tool” [2]. “ASML had no immediate comment,” Reuters said [2]. TSN could not read the full paper, so those two points are Reuters’ account.

Separately, TSN covered a US proposal on exports of ASML’s older tools to China.

What this does not show

• A product or an order. There is no price, customer or delivery date, and Reuters says ASML has “not committed to producing” the tool [2].
• That it will work as described. Reuters says “challenges remain” [2].
• An outside view. The authors work for the two companies; TSN found no independent assessment.

The Bottom Line

A journal paper by ASML and Zeiss engineers sets out a concept for a successor to today’s most advanced chipmaking machines, with an NA of at least 0.75 and reusing the current light source. Reuters reports it could be ready in about 10 years, but ASML has not committed to producing it. It is research, not a roadmap.

Related on TSN: The MATCH Act: Washington Just Escalated the Chip War — And ASML Is in the Crosshairs

Sources

1. Michael Patra, Heiko Feldmann and Gerardo Bottiglieri, “Hyper NA: a system with a numerical aperture of at least 0.75”, Journal of Micro/Nanopatterning, Materials, and Metrology, vol. 25, issue 04, article 041807, issued 1 October 2026 (peer-reviewed journal; abstract read via the Crossref record, full text not read because SPIE’s page blocked TSN’s fetch). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMM.25.4.041807
2. Toby Sterling, “ASML, Zeiss say next-generation chipmaking technology may be ready in 10 years”, Reuters, Amsterdam, 8 October 2026, 8:46 AM EDT (13:46 BST) (news agency; source of the 10-year, 5-nanometre, High NA adoption and “not committed to producing” points; read in a syndicated copy). https://www.streetinsider.com/Reuters/ASML%2C+Zeiss+say+next-generation+chipmaking+technology+may+be+ready+in+10+years/27164476.html