T EN TIMES a second an object shaped like a thick pizza box and holding a silicon wafer takes off three times faster than a manned rocket. For a few milliseconds it moves at a constant speed before being halted abruptly with astonishing precision—within a single atom of its target. This is not a high-energy physics experiment. It is the latest lithography machine dreamed up by ASML , a manufacturer of chipmaking tools , to project nanoscopic chip patterns onto silicon wafers. On January 5th Intel , an American semiconductor giant, became the first proud owner of this technical marvel’s initial components for assembly at its factory…
