ASML makes donation to new TUE quantum-photonics institute

ASML is giving an in-kind 3.5-million-euro birthday present to Eindhoven University of Technology (TUE), which turns 65 this year. The main presents are a critical-dimension scanning electron microscope (CD-SEM) and a laser direct-write lithography (LDWL) system. These devices will be used mostly by researchers from the Eindhoven Hendrik Casimir Institute (EHCI), which was officially launched on Monday, during the opening ceremony of the academic new year. ASML is also funding equipment for new student labs and maintenance of its scanner on TUE’s premises.

EHCI will focus on bringing together photonics and quantum technology to overcome the limits that computation and communication technologies will inevitably reach one day. Exponential growth “can only be sustained with breakthroughs in materials, processes and devices, and integrating these holistically into systems”, says EHCI scientific director Martijn Heck.

“In ten years’ time, the institute will make significant contributions to new computing paradigms like quantum and neuromorphic computing, to novel technologies to make communication far more energy efficient and secure and to compact biosensors for detecting diseases, and metrology sensors with atomic-scale resolution,” Heck promises.