The reality recognizes that it is difficult to break through the lithography machine, and the difference in R&D investment is 270 times
Lithography. With the rise of emerging technologies such as new energy vehicles and artificial intelligence, the demand for semiconductor materials is increasing. When it comes to wafers, many people think of a piece of equipment that is very critical in the semiconductor manufacturing process: lithography machines. Lithography can be divided into various types such as front-end lithography, packaging back-end lithography, LED, and flat plate lithography. At present, the Dutch company ASML has the world's highest level of EUV lithography machine, and it has EUV lithography equipment with 3 nm process.
Shanghai Microelectronics***
Lithography is a very critical issue, how is our country progressing on this issue?In fact, the situation is not rosy. Shanghai Microelectronics is one of the most cutting-edge lithography equipment in China, and has developed the 193 nm ARF ARF lithography process and applied it to the 28 nm process.
However, in Shanghai, the research progress of semiconductor materials has been slow due to the lack of investment in research and development of semiconductor materials. In the past ten years, the total investment in the field of lithography has reached 600 million yuan, with an average of only 60 million yuan per yearIn contrast, ASML's research funding in 2020 reached 2.2 billion, equivalent to 16.2 billion, equivalent to more than 270 times that of Shanghai Microelectronics Company
Why is ASML willing to spend so much money on research and development?For no other reason, the benefits of lithography machines are very high. In 2020, ASML sold a total of 258 optical developers, with a total sales volume of more than 1.4 million euros and a profit of 3554 billion euros. 31 state-of-the-art EUV lithography machines were sold for 150 million euros**. High profitability and high R&D investment are the secrets of ASML's leadership in lithography. Today, ASML is a true tech giant, with a market value of 3,421 billion.
Wafer production. The lack of lithography technology has become a bottleneck in the development of the semiconductor industry. SMIC has purchased an EUV lithography machine from ASML, but so far, no deliveries have been made. Without the EUV lithography machine, the process technology within 7 nm would not be able to be developed at all, and SMIC's progress in process research and development would have been slowed down.
At present, not only the most cutting-edge extreme ultraviolet lithography machines, but even conventional deep ultraviolet lithography machines, there is a serious shortage. In this situation of short supply, if domestic chip manufacturers can get more lithography machines, then their chip production will be greatly improved, and it is even possible to occupy the entire world's chip market.
Lithography. Unfortunately, because of the shortage of lithography machines, this excellent development opportunity has been delayed. The predicament encountered by lithography machines also reminds us of the urgent need to increase R&D investment in the research and development of important integrated circuits. Especially in today's era of technology, semiconductor technology is no longer limited to the consumer field, but plays a pivotal role in frontier fields such as national defense, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence.
At present, in the integrated circuit industry, it is an urgent problem to increase investment in research and development and human resources.