The Zelenograd Nanotechnology Center (ZNTC), together with the Belarusian Planar, has reportedly completed the development and manufacture of a prototype photolithography unit with a design standard of 130 nm. This is the most advanced lithograph ever created on the territory of Russia and the Union State.
Microchips based on the 130-nm standard on 200-mm wafers are widely used in industrial electronics — car controllers, converters for the power industry, chips for communication base stations, secure microcontrollers for payment systems, and interface components for aviation and space. Russia has been manufacturing 130-nm microchips using photolithography systems imported from Nikon, Canon and ASML. Following Western sanctions, access to such equipment was severely restricted.
In the past, ZNTC has successfully developed and delivered to industry photolithography systems with 350-nm resolution. It has also created two prototypes of an electron-beam lithography system with a 150-nm standard, which are undergoing testing. Electron Beam Lithography (EBL) is distinct from photolithography — EBL is a semiconductor lithography technique that can be used for research, mask fabrication and low-volume manufacturing of semiconductors.
The new Russian breakthrough follows Russian success in developing an excimer laser, a critical component of photolithography technology.
In September 2024, Moscow-based LASSARD Group of Companies announced that it had produced two experimental high-power excimer-laser samples, at 193 and 248 nm, under the Russian "Progress 130" project.
In February 2026, Denis Manturov, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, reportedly said that this year Russia would master the production of lithography equipment with a 130-nm standard.
LASSARD is attempting to develop and industrialise a Russian excimer-laser light source specifically for semiconductor photolithography. Its work began with a 248-nm prototype for a 130-nm lithography system, followed by development of a 193-nm source for 90–45-nm lithography.
LASSARD is developing just the laser. The lithography machine is vastly more complicated than the laser. Other critical components include optics, the mask, wafer stage, photoresist, and alignment and focus systems.
Based on the report, the Zelenograd Nanotechnology Center, together with the Belarusian Planar, is developing the entire lithography machine.
Photolithography Explained
Making a semiconductor chip involves printing an extraordinarily complicated microscopic drawing onto a silicon wafer.
The wafer is coated with a light-sensitive material called photoresist. A pattern — representing transistors, wires, etc. — is projected onto the wafer through a mask. When photons interact with the photoresist, it changes chemically. The exposed or unexposed portions can then be removed, allowing the underlying silicon or other material to be etched or otherwise processed.
The smaller the wavelength of the light, the smaller the features that can potentially be printed.
That's why semiconductor manufacturing progressed from visible/near-UV light to deep ultraviolet (DUV).
Excimer Laser
An excimer laser produces extremely intense pulses of very short-wavelength ultraviolet light.
For semiconductor lithography, two wavelengths are relevant:
KrF (Krypton Fluoride) — 248 nm
ArF (Argon Fluoride) — 193 nm
These are deep-ultraviolet wavelengths. Modern DUV lithography systems use these lasers as their light source.
The highly specialised excimer-laser light sources required for DUV photolithography are supplied essentially by two major foreign companies — ASML-owned US company Cymer and Japan's Gigaphoton. Nikon and Canon manufacture complete DUV lithography systems, but do not provide the same independent excimer-laser-light-source capability.
EUV Lithography
Even after LASSARD fields a 193-nm excimer-laser system, there will continue to exist a yawning gap between Russian-manufactured microchips and those manufactured by Taiwan-based TSMC, a global leader in semiconductor manufacturing. TSMC is already mass-producing 7-nm-class chips, with its more advanced 7-nm variants using ASML EUV lithography.
ASML has now achieved an extraordinary technological position by developing EUV lithography in which a laser-generated tin plasma produces 13.5-nm light. Extremely short-wavelength ultraviolet light — typically 13.5 nanometres (nm) — can be used to print very tiny features on a silicon wafer. ASML is currently the only commercial supplier of EUV lithography systems.
Semiconductor Manufacturing
With 130-nm lithographic capability, Russia could push its optical lithography capability to potentially approach 65-nm-class features using multipatterning.
Multipatterning involves printing complicated patterns by photo-etching two or more simpler patterns sequentially over the same wafer surface.
Multipatterning is technologically challenging and pushes up cost, processing time, and defect rates.
Though so far Russia has only now acquired photolithography capabilities to manufacture 130-nm chips, it is already designing and manufacturing chips with finer topography.
Mikron already produces chips with a 90-nm topology, which are used in bank cards. For the 90-nm process, Mikron uses lithography equipment from STMicroelectronics.
In January 2026, it was reported that Element Microelectronic Holding was building a plant in Tatarstan for the production of semiconductor wafers with 55–40-nm technology. In the future, the enterprise should reach a more advanced level — 28 nanometers.
55–40-nm technologies cover more than half of the Russian market for electronic components. Among the main customers are Rosatom, Rostec, defence industry enterprises and critical information infrastructure facilities.
Russia has possibly acquired the capability to manufacture finer-topology chips by using imported second-hand ASML photolithography systems, optics, lasers, wafer stages and control electronics.
China's Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment reportedly has been developing 28-nm immersion lithography systems.
Ambitious Plans
Russia reportedly has around 25–40 imported 130-nm photolithography units operational at Russian enterprises. These will eventually need to be replaced, creating a potential demand for 15–25 new units by 2030–32. The market is small, but sanctions and the urgent need to reduce import dependence leave Russia with little choice.
Despite the sanctions — or perhaps because of them — Russia has drawn up ambitious plans to ramp up its semiconductor manufacturing capability. It aims to mass-produce 28-nm chips by 2027 and 14-nm chips by 2030. However, it is likely that the targets will be pushed back based on delays in establishing the capability.
The recent development of a prototype photolithography system with a 130-nm design resolution is an important step towards realising Russia's semiconductor ambitions. What Russia has created so far is a prototype that will be used for preliminary testing and for developing and refining the technological processes required to manufacture specific products.
Most importantly for Russian strategic planners, ZNTC's success with the 130-nm photolithography system has cemented its reputation as an organisation that Russia could rely on for its semiconductor ambitions in the future.
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