Canon is preparing to challenge Dutch company ASML with a new generation of nanoimprint lithography (NIL).

ASML currently has a stranglehold on the lithography machines used to etch circuits onto chips. According a press release, Canon has released the “FPA-1200NZ2C nanoimprint semiconductor manufacturing equipment.”

Canon says its nanoimprint lithography (NIL) technology will soon be able to pattern 2nm chips:

Canon’s NIL technology enables patterning with a minimum linewidth of 14 nm2, equivalent to the 5-nm-node3 required to produce most advanced logic semiconductors which are currently available. Furthermore, with further improvement of mask technology, NIL is expected to enable circuit patterning with a minimum linewidth of 10 nm, which corresponds to 2-nm-node.

Canon clearly hopes to regain ground in the semiconductor industry and its new NIL technology may well be the key to doing that.