Langdao Silex, a Shanghai startup developing light sources for extreme ultraviolet lithography, showed a prototype EUV light source system for the first time at the 2026 China International Industry Fair, which is running at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai. Staff at the booth said mass production is still three to five years away.
The light source is one of the core components of an EUV scanner, the tool used to pattern chips at 7nm and below. According to Jiefang Daily, as reported by IT Home, about 90% of the prototype's parts are made domestically, most core components were developed in-house, and the system follows the same laser-produced plasma, or LPP, approach as the leading suppliers in the field. Staff said it can already be used for exposure testing.
The company's website lists several EUV products. Its low-power FlintNano-LPP series is described as being in the productization stage, while the high-power FlintMicro-LPP series has completed proof of principle. Published specifications for the FlintNano LPP-OXXO system include a 1,000W drive laser running at 1 to 20kHz, conversion efficiency above 2%, EUV output above 15W, continuous operation of more than 100 hours, a plasma size of 60 micrometers, plasma stability of 3% RMS and energy stability of 5%.
That output is a long way from what a production lithography tool needs. Commercial EUV scanners require source power in the hundreds of watts, sustained reliably over long periods. Booth staff said the main challenges now are raising output power and improving long-term stability. The prototype shows that the technical route works, but it is not yet a product mature enough for industrial use.
Langdao Silex was founded in 2024. Founder Wang Hao and his team build on research from the gas discharge plasma laboratory at Tsinghua University. Besides EUV light sources, the company develops high-power carbon dioxide fast-axial-flow lasers, which are used to drive LPP sources, and plasma simulation software.
The fair also featured more than a hundred other technology projects from Shanghai research institutions and companies.
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