Oberkochen, Germany / Paris, France | 8 June 2018 | ZEISS Group

Yesterday in Paris, engineer Erik Loopstra (ZEISS) and physicist Vadim Banine (ASML) received the European Inventor Award 2018 in the Popular Prize category. The European Patent Office presents the prestigious award to those inventors selected by the public from among 15 finalists. Together with their engineering and research teams, Loopstra and Banine developed ground-breaking inventions for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography.

EUV lithography enables an unprecedented level of precision for creating geometric structures on wafers, which are the foundation for microchips.

EUV technology became market-ready in 2017. It is now possible to manufacture a new generation of chips more quickly and easily than with older production methods. The new technology not only saves chip fabs time and costs, but most importantly drives innovations in the areas of home electronics, healthcare, entertainment, self-driving cars, robotics and artificial intelligence.

First presented by the European Patent Office in 2006, the European Inventor Award is one of the most important innovation prizes in Europe. It honors individual inventors and teams of inventors whose innovations assist in the search for technical solutions to the greatest challenges of our time.

In honor of his groundbreaking achievements, Erik Loopstra was recently named a ZEISS Fellow, the highest rung on the ZEISS Expert Ladder. The Executive Board of the ZEISS Group congratulated him on his appointment and thanked him for his excellent work to date.

Dr. Karl Lamprecht, Member of the Executive Board at ZEISS responsible for the Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology segment, drew particular attention to Loopstra's personal qualities: "He not only leads teams as an expert in his field, but also guides them and fosters a team mindset. His opinion carries a lot of weight among developers and leading experts. Erik Loopstra winning this year's European Inventor Award in the Popular Prize category demonstrates the importance of his expertise beyond the world of ZEISS and underscores his international reputation."