Software Engineering Intern
Worked on lithography control systems software at the world's most advanced semiconductor equipment manufacturer, contributing to performance-critical C++ codebases.
- ▸Contributed to the lithography machine control software used in cutting-edge chip manufacturing
- ▸Optimized critical-path algorithms reducing processing latency by measurable margins
- ▸Worked with real-time systems constraints and strict quality standards
- ▸Participated in code reviews, sprint planning, and cross-team architecture discussions
Context
ASML is the sole manufacturer of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines — the most complex machines ever built, used by every leading chipmaker (TSMC, Samsung, Intel) to produce cutting-edge semiconductors. I interned in the software engineering division working on control systems software.
What I Did
My work focused on the software that controls the lithography process — the systems that coordinate laser firing, wafer positioning, and optics alignment at nanometer precision:
- Performance optimization: Profiled and optimized critical-path algorithms in the control software pipeline, targeting latency reduction in processing loops that run at extremely high frequencies
- Testing infrastructure: Extended the automated testing framework for hardware-in-the-loop simulation, improving test coverage for edge cases in machine behavior
- Data analysis tooling: Built Python analysis tools for processing machine telemetry data, enabling engineers to diagnose performance bottlenecks more efficiently
- Code quality: Participated in rigorous code reviews following ASML's strict quality standards, learning systematic approaches to writing safety-critical software
Impact
- Contributed optimizations that reduced processing latency in a critical control loop
- Analysis tools adopted by the team for ongoing performance monitoring
- Delivered all sprint commitments ahead of schedule
Tools & Methods
Day-to-day work involved C++ development on Linux systems, with a strong emphasis on:
- Real-time programming patterns and deterministic execution
- Performance profiling (perf, Valgrind/Callgrind)
- CI/CD with Jenkins
- Agile/Scrum methodology with 2-week sprints
- Rigorous code review culture
What I Learned
Working at ASML fundamentally shaped my approach to software engineering:
- Precision matters: When your software controls hardware worth hundreds of millions of dollars, every edge case matters. This instilled a rigorous testing mindset.
- Systems thinking: Understanding how software interacts with physical systems — timing constraints, sensor noise, actuator limitations — is a different skill from pure software engineering.
- Scale of complexity: ASML's codebase is one of the largest C++ codebases in the world. Navigating it taught me how large organizations manage complexity through architecture, documentation, and process.
- Quality culture: The bar for code quality was the highest I've experienced. Every change went through multiple review stages with clear quality gates.