2024 Werner von Siemens Ring Goes to ZEISS and TRUMPF

(ZEISS: Oberkochen, Germany) — The 42nd Werner von Siemens Ring will be awarded to the EUV development teams of ZEISS and TRUMPF, honoring researchers from both companies for developing high-NA-EUV lithography and the industrial use of EUV technology. Peter Kuerz (ZEISS SMT) and Michael Koesters (TRUMPF) will receive the award on behalf of their entire teams on December 13, 2024, in Berlin.

The Werner von Siemens Ring is considered one of the highest German honors for individuals who have significantly advanced technical sciences through their achievements or have opened up new paths as researchers.

Future technology as teamwork

The award winners have made a significant contribution to the development of this future technology with the development of high-NA-EUV lithography and the industrial use of EUV lithography. Thanks to this technological leap, even more powerful microchips can be produced, starting in 2025. This is made possible by the world’s most powerful pulsed industrial laser from TRUMPF and ZEISS’s optical system, which incorporates the most precise mirrors in the world. Together, they are used in lithography machines of their strategic partner ASML.

Andreas Pecher, member of the ZEISS executive board, and president and chief executive officer of the SMT segment, says, “We live the motto of Werner von Siemens—‘Those who think in new and different ways can change the world’—every day at ZEISS. That’s why the award is an honor for us as Team ZEISS. Microchips are critical to social and economic progress and digitalization. We’re working to continuously push the boundaries of what is technologically possible and are developing solutions that make microchip production even more economical. This can only be achieved in collaboration with our strategic partners ASML, TRUMPF, and many others. We’re delighted to receive this joint award.”

TRUMPF chief technology officer Berthold Schmidt says, “We’re very pleased to receive the Werner von Siemens Ring. The award underscores the global potential of high-NA-EUV technology. Our collaboration with ZEISS and the Dutch technology company ASML impressively demonstrates how innovations are created in the 21st century. Machines from Europe for the production of the world’s most advanced microchips are a success story, and we’ve written this success story together. It’s based on a unique cooperation between all the teams involved, perseverance, and great trust.”

Advancing global digitalization

To expose microchips using high-NA-EUV technology, optical systems are being used that are becoming increasingly larger. They capture light from a wider angular range (numerical aperture, NA) to image even finer structures. In high-NA-EUV lithography, the NA increases from 0.33 to 0.55. As a result, the core components of ZEISS’ optical system—the illumination system and projection optics—also become significantly larger. Integrated in ASML’s wafer scanners, they use extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light to expose the blueprint of a microchip from photomasks onto silicon wafers in various layers. The mirrors reflect the light and precisely direct it to the correct location, down to the nanometer level.

With high-NA-EUV lithography, even finer structures on microchip carriers—the wafers—become possible. The result of this technological leap is a multiplication of computational power. Thus, high-NA-EUV lithography builds the foundation for groundbreaking technologies and future developments such as artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, smart cities, and the internet of things.

Honoring innovative engineering and scientific achievements,
the Werner von Siemens Ring and its recipients have been important guiding points and a source of motivation for more than 100 years for successive generations of researchers in engineering and the natural sciences. To support this cause, the Foundation Council consists of both award winners and high-ranking representatives from technical and scientific societies, including: the Federal Institute of Physics and Technology; the German Research Foundation; the Fraunhofer Society; the Max Planck Society; the Donors’ Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany; the Federation of German Industries; and the German Federation of Technical and Scientific Associations.