China's imports of lithography machines from the Netherlands have surged by 1000, is the prospect of domestic lithography machines slim?
According to Chinese customs statistics, in December 2023, the total value of lithographic equipment imported by Chinese mainland from the Netherlands was 1.1 billion yuan, an increase of 1,000% over the same period last year, an increase of 1,000% over the same period last year, and 1.1 in October600 million yuan is much higher.
This year, the import value of semiconductor equipment is also close to 40 billion yuan.
Some netizens couldn't help but ask, do so many imported lithographs mean that domestic stone prints are no longer saved?
Household lithographs really don't meet our needs.
Due to the different solutions, the chip manufacturing process can vary greatly.
Aerospace chips have higher requirements in terms of reliability, safety, and radiation resistance, but they do not have too high requirements in terms of performance, so 55 nm, 60 nm or even higher processes are usually used.
Smartphone chips require high performance, low power consumption, logic, artificial intelligence, communication and other functions, integrating CPU, GPU, ISP, NPU, etc., so the 7 nm process is mostly used.
The 600 lithography machine of Shanghai Microelectronics Co., Ltd. is currently the only lithography equipment that can be mass-produced and sold in China.
The lithography technology can meet the requirements of 90 nm, 110 nm, 280 nm, 55 nm and other lithography processes at the same time, and can realize chip manufacturing under multiple ** conditions, but the yield decreases and the leakage increases. It is more suitable for chip applications with low process requirements, such as aerospace, industrial control, etc.
The mobile phone chips, computer processors, and artificial intelligence chips we use in our daily lives all require more advanced micro-imaging processes, which can only be achieved with ASML.
Founded in 1984, ASML is a Dutch company with an 85% market share and is the world's largest producer of lithographic presses. We have 6 types of lithographic presses, including G-line, i-line, KRF, ARF, ARFI and EUV.
We can see that ARFI lithography (also known as immersion deep ultraviolet lithography) can make a 7 nm wafer after a few times**. The Huawei Kirin 990 and Kirin 9000 both use this micro-shadow technology.
Extreme ultraviolet lithography is the most advanced lithography technology on the market, which can produce wafers as small as 7 nanometers. Huawei (Huawei) Kirin 9000 (Kirin 9000), Apple (Apple) A16 (A17), Qualcomm (Qualcomm) (Qualcomm) 8Gen1 (8Gen1) and 8Gen2 (Gen2) (8Gen2).
ASML released a high numerical aperture extreme ultraviolet lithography machine some time ago. Conventional EUV lithography machines have 0The numerical aperture of 33 and the resolving power of 13 nm are suitable for the fabrication of 5 nm and 3 nm chips. The latest European ultraviolet lithography machines are capable of reaching 055 nm with a resolution of 8 nm, enabling simultaneous fabrication of 2 nm and 1 nm chips.
To put it simply, ASML lithography is effective for all chip designs.
That's not the point, the point is that ASML accounts for more than 90% of the world's DUV lithography machines, and 100% of EUV lithography machines.
chip producers, including TSMC, Samsung, TSMC, UMC, SMIC; IDM manufacturers have adopted the ASML lithography process without exception: Intel, Samsung, SK hynix, Micron, YMTC, etc. have adopted the ASML lithography process.
Other equipment manufacturers are actively working with ASML to improve the overall efficiency and wafer yield of the lithography process.
Therefore, if the domestic lithography machine cannot meet the current process level, buying ASML lithography machine is not the best policy.
Increase export restrictions on lithography technology.
On June 30, 2023, the Netherlands promulgated a new regime on export controls for high-grade semiconductor equipment, which prohibits the export of certain fictitious lithographic presses from the Netherlands without permission; This system was originally scheduled to start on September 1, 2023, but was later postponed to January 1, 2024 due to some special circumstances.
Previously, the control of the EUV lithography process has been strengthened.
ASML says there are four models of this underwater lithography machine, namely the 1980 Di, 2000i, 2050 I and 2100 I, all of which are below 38 nm.
The 2050 i and 2100 i are the most advanced deep ultraviolet lithography machines in the world, which are widely used in 28 nm, 14 nm, 10 nm and 7 nm, and can theoretically also be applied to the manufacture of 5 nm chips.
The 1980 DI was a 10-year-old first-generation deep UV lithography machine that could manufacture 10 nm chips while the system worked only 97% of its normal operating time.
Although TSMC has used this microimaging technique to make 7nm chips before. However, TSMC's 7 nm process is known to have a lot of moisture, which may be a bit worse than Intel's 10 nm process.
As a result, most fabs for chips of 14 nm or higher use the 1980 DI lithography process, while there are very few fabs above 7 nm.
The 2050 i corresponds to chips below 7 nm, which is also an advanced DRAM, and chips below 7 nm are not as good as 10 nm. However, considering the lack of lithography equipment, it is estimated that 7 nm chips will also be used.
To put it simply, the Dutch export restrictions on lithography technology are designed to prevent us from sourcing sub-14 nm logic chips, high-end DRAM chips, and NAND flash memory with more than 128 layers.
Its range of applications includes intelligence**, personal computers, artificial intelligence chips, and the memory associated with them.
In the short term, it has no impact on our military industry, but it has a great impact on our high-tech industry.
High-tech is the cornerstone of great power competition, and now artificial intelligence has once again brought about fundamental changes.
Some analysts also see the lithography ban as a sanction against Chinese tech giants such as Huawei. But they have only one goal, and that is to limit the development of high technology.
Therefore, it is necessary to break through the tradition and independently develop domestic lithography machines.
Is domestic lithographic printing promising?
There is very little information about domestic lithography machines, and many lithography equipment are imported from abroad, so many people feel that there is a problem with domestic lithography machines.
Actually, it's not.
As early as 2022, there was an official background ** reported that Shanghai Microelectronics Co., Ltd. made a major breakthrough in the 28 nm lithography machine, which is expected to be delivered for commercial use in 2023, and expressed appreciation for the progress of SMIC and Huahong in the field of chip foundry.
According to the plan, the 28 nm lithography machine has completed at least one test, and is currently undergoing a second and third test, and it is not far from being officially launched.
According to published information, all the basic components of the 28 nm lithography equipment are domestic.
The light source uses 193 nm deep ultraviolet light source, which is produced by Beijing Keyi Hongyuan Company and ASML Company. The optical components are produced by Guowang Optics, which already has the technical indicators of 28 nanometer lithography machine, but there is still a big gap with Zeiss in Germany.
On the basis of the technical support provided by Tsinghua University and Huawei, Huaxia Precision has designed a double workbench.
The immersion temperature stability error developed by QIER E&M is 0001, reaching the international advanced level, its comprehensive strength is second only to ASML in the United States and Nikon in Japan.
At the same time, the research and development of ultraviolet lithography technology in China is also constantly strengthening.
In 2023, when Wen Ningke, President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, visited the Changchun Institute of Optics and Mechanics during his visit to China, he spoke highly of the domestic EUV lithography technology.
This move even upset Wennink, because he believes that China's advanced lithography technology is destroying the global industrial chain, and at the same time will threaten the global chip industry chain.
This shows that the research and development speed of domestic EUV lithography machine is very fast, and it has reached the threshold of core technology.
China cannot build an atomic bomb. "Both Soviet experts and the United States ** said this. So, we have the atomic bomb, the hydrogen bomb;
The former U.S. Secretary of Defense once said that "it is impossible for China to create a fifth-generation fighter", which is the J-20;
TSMC Zhang Zhongmou said that "even if the mainland invests one trillion yuan, it is impossible to manufacture high-end chips." That's how the Kirin 9000 S was born;
ASML said that even if they got the drawings from China, they would not be able to make lithography equipment; I don't know if that counts. If it were, ASML would definitely be slapped in the face.
We imported lithography machines from the Netherlands to expand production capacity and reduce imports. However, the domestic lithography machine has never given up research, and in the accelerated research and development, I believe that it will not be long before good news comes.
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