As the world's second-largest provider of lithography equipment, Japan is vigorously pursuing the development of lithography technology that can act as a viable alternative to EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography). The country has opted for the NIL (Nanoimprint Lithography) technology route. Japan's DNP (Dai Nippon Printing) company has successfully created NIL nanoimprint lithography technology boasting a precision of 10nm. This innovation is applicable for the exposure of logic chips in the 1.4nm process.

By incorporating SADP (Self-Aligned Double Patterning) technology, this new approach can fulfill the manufacturing demands of advanced process logic chips. Moreover, it offers power consumption that is merely about one-tenth of that seen in current mainstream processes. DNP brings to the table over two decades of research and development expertise in the NIL technology arena, and its technology holds the promise of partially supplanting EUV lithography.

At present, the company has embarked on collaborative evaluations with hardware suppliers and expects to commence mass production and shipping in 2027.