The student council of Physics and Mathematics invites to the summer festivity of the faculty 8 on Thursday 17.07.2025.
4 pm, in lecture hall V57.01
"Counting Curves with Tropical Geometry" – Festive Lecture by Prof. Hannah Markwig, University of Tübingen, including an interview conducted by mathematics students on Prof. Markwig's career and the challenges she has faced.
from 5:30 pm (in the outdoor area – University Center, between Pfaffenwaldring 53 and Universitätsstraße 38)
the traditional summer party of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics will take place and the students of mathematics and physics will present the lecturer awards.
Look forward to grilled food, refreshing drinks, live music by Gzäls, an entertaining student-led program featuring a students-versus-lecturers showdown, and a pub quiz to round off the evening.
All members, alumni and friends of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics are invited.
Dipl. phys. Winfried Kaiser
Carl Zeiss SMT (retired)
The phenomenal development of lithographic optics
Photo-lithography is one of the most important key processes in the manufacture of microchips. Chip manufacturers worldwide use lithography optics to expose their wafers with nanometer precision - the basis for the production of extremely powerful microchips. Lithography optics make a decisive contribution: the resolution of the projection optics and the capabilities of the illumination system have a decisive influence on how small the structures on a microchip can be. The development of integrated circuits ("ICs") has been following "Moore's Law" for almost 6 decades, which predicts that the transistor density will double every 2 years, realized primarily by increasing the resolution of the lithography optics. Meanwhile, IC technology has the so-called "3nm node" in mass production and the "2nm node" is just around the corner.
The lecture will shed light on the history of optical lithography from the g-line (wavelength 436nm) to EUV lithography (13.5nm). It will show how the continuous goal of increased resolution was realized with different means.
The functional principle of an EUV lithography system ("scanner") with EUV optics as the central element is shown. The structure and the extreme physical and technical challenges as well as the performance achieved by the current EUV optics are discussed in detail.
To continue Moore's Law and to further increase resolution, the next generation of EUV lithography, called "High NA EUV", is currently in production. It poses further, even more extreme challenges and requires a completely new production infrastructure. The possible further development is being discussed.
