Recently, a series of actions from the United States have brought the public's attention to the core of the problem - the lithography machine. The world's top lithography machine manufacturer is the Netherlands' ASML. Because it is a Dutch company, many netizens who are unaware of it think that when did the Netherlands become so powerful that even the United States can build a lithography machine? Below, the author will answer your questions about lithography machines.
manufacturer
There are basically only three companies that can produce lithography machines in the world and do well: ASML in the Netherlands, Nikon in Japan and Canon in . Many netizens are asking if there is anything that can be produced in China? have! Shanghai Microelectronics was established in Shanghai in 2002 and has a history of 18 years. Its main products are in the semiconductor field, such as integrated circuit front-end, advanced packaging, lithography and other fields. Of course, what everyone is most interested in is its lithography machine. The most advanced lithography machine is the 600 series lithography machine, which can meet the lithography process of IC front-channel manufacturing of 90nm, 110nm, 280nm key layers and non-critical layers. needs to be used for large-scale industrial production that can be used for 8-inch or 12-inch lines. Speaking of which, Shanghai Microelectronics' 90nm process node lithography machine seems to be quite different from the world's strongest ASML's 5nm process node lithography machine, but at least its emergence has made China's lithography machine There is a breakthrough of 0 in the field.
ASML is the reason why ASML is powerful
First of all, we need to point out a misunderstanding for many friends who are eating melons, believing that the lithography machine is independently manufactured by this company. It’s a big mistake. In this era of globalization, no company in any country can produce high-tech products independently. ASML obviously cannot escape this law. Saying it out may surprise everyone, because 80% to 90% of ASML's parts are purchased. You should know that domestic netizens like to talk about this the most. If a product purchases a lot of globally, it is considered an assembly factory and has no technical content. But ASML once claimed that even if it discloses all the drawings, other companies will not be able to imitate them for a while. Why?
- First, let’s look at the shareholders behind ASML: Intel , Samsung , TSMC , etc. Everyone is familiar with these companies. They are all industry giants. While providing funds, they will also provide corresponding technical support. ASML has a rule that only by investing in ASML can you obtain priority supply rights. In fact, this makes it a model of cooperation that symbiotically with customers. As mentioned earlier, Intel, Samsung, TSMC and Hynix are all shareholders of Asmer, so a symbiotic partnership with top companies can obtain top components in the global supply chain. ASML engineers once said, "Even if there is a complete set of drawings, the outside world cannot imitate them." This also leads to priority supply to its shareholders once there is a technological breakthrough.
- , then look at its hardware suppliers: For example, according to the suppliers released by ASML in 2017, the top 17 suppliers are mainly concentrated in the EU, the United States, Japan and Taiwan, of which the United States accounts for 9 and Taiwan accounts for 4. , Japan accounts for 3 companies and Germany accounts for 3 companies.
Among these suppliers, the lenses and light sources involving the most core components of lithography machines are from European and American countries, among which the lenses are from Zeiss, Germany, and the light sources are from Cymer in the United States. In addition, there are four companies in Taiwan, China and Taiwan, one of the main suppliers of ASML. For example, Xinbang Electronics provides wire materials for ASML, provides components for public and precision, and UV light boxes for ASML and Jiadeng Precision.
summary
From the above information, it can be shown that the production of a top lithography machine actually uses all the top suppliers and shareholders of the West, and they come from various countries. To borrow a netizen's evaluation of ASML
It can be said that top lithography machines are the crystallization of global technology and cannot be made by a company or even a country alone. Seeing this, many friends may think that ASML is not that powerful either. In fact, ASML has always focused on R&D, spending 15% of its revenue every year on R&D.Assembling a lithography machine is not like assembling a toy. This thing requires years of accumulation and continuous capital investment.
Seeing this, many people will have questions, why can the United States control the sales and use of lithography machines? Don’t there be many suppliers of lithography machines? The United States cannot manufacture them independently. Yes, the United States cannot manufacture independently, but it accounts for a large proportion of the core technology of lithography machines. Moreover, as the world's largest country, the United States has a large number of technologies aside from it, as far as politics is concerned. Influence. ASML is greatly influenced by the United States, and whether to sell it or not is up to the Americans to decide. The Western world is a game of chess. What Americans want is dominance in the industrial chain, not manufacturing all products. Americans can't easily copy such a world-class company. What's the use of trying to create a company of the same level? The market is so big.
China's situation
Based on the previous information, we can see that the component suppliers of lithography machines are very small, so they do not play any leading role in lithography machines. And if you think about it, this is equivalent to a confrontation between China and a country. The high-tech legion of Western countries is still in the case where China started late in this field, so it is really difficult for China. It also highlights Huawei's strength and can be used to lag behind in China's chip industry. Design the first-tier chips. Therefore, the situation in China's chip industry is really not good, so the country needs to lead the way. But China has faced many such forms, and I believe that a miracle will happen in the end. Come on, China!
