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semiconductor raw material industry chain development status at home and abroad
semiconductor industry is developing rapidly, and my country has serious supply chain security risks
Now the global semiconductor industry is in a volatile downward stage of the new round of prosperity cycle since 2015. According to Wind, TSMC CEO Wei Zhejia expected that his business in the second half of the year will be significantly stronger than in the first half of the year at the Q2 performance disclosure meeting in 2019; the development of 3-nanometer process is progressing well. According to Wind data, global semiconductor sales fell sharply in Q1 2019, but since 2019, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has repeatedly hit record highs. html reached its historical high of 1625.16 on September 12, which also represents investors' optimistic attitude towards new demand for future 5G, AI and other factors. We expect to reach the bottom of the cycle by the end of 2019.
Looking at the domestic market, China's integrated circuit industry has grown rapidly. According to data from the Semiconductor Industry Association, from 2007 to 2018, the scale of China's integrated circuit industry maintained a rapid growth trend, with an average annual compound growth rate of 15.8%, far higher than the growth rate of 6.8% of the global semiconductor market. In 2018, the semiconductor market size reached US$158.2 billion, accounting for 33.72% of the world. At the same time, with the issuance of the National Integrated Circuit Industry Development Promotion Outline and the implementation of large funds, and the commissioning of major projects of national productivity layout, my country's integrated circuit industry will usher in a golden period of future development.
For a long time, my country has been the world's largest integrated circuit consumer market, but due to backward core technologies, most products rely heavily on imports. Data released by the General Administration of Customs shows that since 2013, my country's integrated circuit imports have exceeded US$200 billion, which has exceeded the import value of crude oil, a strategic material for five consecutive years, ranking as the largest bulk commodity in my country. At the same time, the integrated circuit trade deficit continued to expand, and the deficit in 2018 reached US$193.3 billion. my country's high-end core chips, CPU, FPGA, DSP, etc. still mainly rely on imports. In the absence of fundamental change in the situation where my country's core technology is controlled by people, key product components of applications and whole machine enterprises are highly dependent on imports, especially key materials and equipment are manufactured by people, and the industry has supply chain security risks.
Semiconductor materials is located at the upstream of the semiconductor industry chain
Semiconductor industry has the characteristics of high technical difficulty, large investment scale, long industrial chain links, many product types, fast updates and iterations, and wide downstream applications. The industrial chain is in a vertical division of labor pattern. The semiconductor manufacturing industry chain includes design, manufacturing and packaging testing links. semiconductor materials and equipment belong to the supporting industries of chip manufacturing and packaging and testing, and is located at the top of the industrial chain. The processing process of
semiconductor products mainly includes wafer manufacturing (front channel) and packaging (back channel) testing. With the penetration of advanced packaging technology, a processing link between wafer manufacturing and packaging has emerged, which is called the middle channel. Due to the many processing processes of semiconductor products, a large number of semiconductor equipment and materials are required during the manufacturing process. We mainly use the most complex wafer manufacturing (front road) process as an example to illustrate the materials required for the manufacturing process.
wafer production line can be divided into 7 independent production areas: diffusion, photolithography, etching, ion implantation, film growth, polishing (CMP), and metallization. The semiconductor materials used in each independent production area are different.
has many sub-categories, with high concentration of single products
semiconductor materials including semiconductor manufacturing materials and semiconductor packaging and testing materials. On April 2, 2019, SEMI Materials Market Data Subscription announced that global semiconductor materials sales in 2018 were US$51.9 billion, a year-on-year increase of 10.6%, exceeding the historical high of US$47.1 billion in 2011. Among them, the sales of wafer manufacturing materials and packaging and testing materials were US$32.2 billion and US$19.7 billion, respectively, with year-on-year growth rates of 15.9% and 3.0% respectively. In 2009, the scale of the manufacturing materials market was comparable to that of the packaging and testing materials market. Since then, the growth rate of the manufacturing materials market has been higher than the growth rate of the packaging and testing materials market.After nearly ten years of development, the market size of manufacturing materials has reached 1.62 times the market size of packaging and testing materials.
semiconductor manufacturing materials mainly include silicon wafer , electronic gas, photomask , photoresist supporting chemicals, polishing materials, photolithography glue, wet chemicals and sputtering targets, etc. According to SEMI's forecast, the sales of silicon wafers, electronic gases, photomasks, and photoresist supporting chemicals in 2019 will be US$12.37 billion, US$4.37 billion, US$4.15 billion and US$2.28 billion, respectively, accounting for 37.29%, 13.17%, 12.51% and 6.87% of the global semiconductor manufacturing materials industry, respectively. Among them, semiconductor silicon wafers account for the highest proportion, and are the core material for semiconductor manufacturing.
turned to the regional market. According to SEMI statistics, Taiwan has become the largest consumer region for semiconductor materials for US$11.4 billion for the ninth consecutive year with its huge foundry and advanced packaging base. South Korea ranks second, and mainland China ranks third. Materials market sales grew strongly in South Korea, Europe, Taiwan and mainland China, while North America, the rest of the world and Japan achieved single-digit growth. (Other regions are defined as Singapore, Malaysia , the Philippines, other Southeast Asia regions and smaller global markets.)
semiconductor materials market is in an oligopoly situation, and the domestic industry scale is very small. Compared with the semiconductor equipment market that is also upstream of the industrial chain, the semiconductor materials market is more segmented, and the market space for a single product is very small, so there are few pure semiconductor material companies. Semiconductor materials are often just a small business of some large material manufacturers, such as The DOW Chemical Company, DuPont , Mitsubishi Chemical , Sumitomo Chemical and other companies. The semiconductor materials business is just a branch under its electronic materials business unit. Nevertheless, due to the strict material requirements of semiconductor processes, there are only a few suppliers that can provide products in a single semiconductor chemical. Taking the semiconductor silicon wafer market as an example, the global semiconductor silicon wafer market has a high concentration, and its products are mainly concentrated in developed countries and regions such as Japan, South Korea, Germany and Taiwan. The production scale of mainland Chinese manufacturers is generally small.
In 2018, the top five silicon wafer suppliers, Japan Shintsuki Chemical Co., Ltd., SUMCO Co., Ltd., Germany's Siltronic AG, Taiwan Global Wafer Co., Ltd. and South Korea's SK Siltron Inc., respectively, accounted for 29%, 25%, 15%, 14% and 10% of the global market share, respectively, and the output value accounts for more than 93% of the market share. In mainland China, only a few companies such as Shanghai Silicon Industry Group, Zhonghuan Co., Ltd., and Jinruihong have the production capacity of 8-inch semiconductor silicon wafers, while 12-inch semiconductor silicon wafers mainly rely on imports and have very low autonomy. In addition to the silicon wafer market having oligopoly characteristics, the same is true for other raw material markets, which we will explain in further the following text.
Overall, my country's semiconductor materials industry chain is undergoing major changes from nothing to something, from weak to strong, and will inevitably trigger historic investment opportunities. Below we will analyze silicon wafers, electronic special gas , mask plates, polishing materials, photoresist, wet chemicals, etc. one by one.
silicon wafer: The largest semiconductor raw material in the market,
substrate is a clean single crystal sheet for growing epitaxial layers with specific crystal surfaces and appropriate electrical, optical and mechanical characteristics. According to the evolution process, it can be divided into three generations: , the first generation represented by semiconductor materials such as silicon and germanium, laying the foundation for the microelectronics industry; the second generation represented by compound materials such as gallium arsenide (GaAs) and indium phosphide (InP), laying the foundation for the information industry; and the third generation represented by wide bandgap semiconductor materials such as gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC), supports the development of strategic emerging industries.
silicon accounts for about 27% of the earth's crust, making it the second richest element besides oxygen element. Silicon elements are found in large quantities in sand, rocks and minerals in the form of silica and silicates, with rich reserves and easy to obtain. Silicon with a purity of 95-99% is usually referred to as industrial silicon.Silica in sand and ore can be purified to make silicon with a purity of more than 98%; high-purity silicon becomes ultrapure polycrystalline silicon with a purity of 99.99999999% to 99.999999999999999% (9-11 9s); ultrapure polycrystalline silicon is melted in a quartz crucible, and elements such as boron (P), phosphorus (B) are mixed to change its conductivity, and seed crystals are placed to determine the crystal direction, and after single crystal growth, a single crystal ingot with specific electrical functions is made.
The temperature, pulling speed and rotation speed of the seed/quartz crucible determine the size and crystal quality of the single crystal silicon ingot, while the concentration of impurity elements such as boron (P) and phosphorus (B) in the melt determine the electrical characteristics of the single crystal silicon ingot. single crystal silicon ingots are manufactured into semiconductor silicon wafers through cutting, grinding, etching, polishing, epitaxial, bonding, cleaning and other processes. can arrange transistors and multi-layer interconnect lines on the semiconductor silicon wafer, making them an integrated circuit or semiconductor device product with specific functions. In the production process, semiconductor silicon wafers need to minimize crystal defects as much as possible, maintain extremely high flatness and surface cleanliness to ensure the reliability of integrated circuits or semiconductor devices.
Silicon-based semiconductor material is currently the largest production and most widely used semiconductor material. According to SEMI statistics, from the perspective of semiconductor device output value, in 2017, more than 95% of semiconductor devices and more than 99% of integrated circuits worldwide used silicon as substrate material, while the compound semiconductor market accounted for less than 5%. Judging from the substrate market size, the annual sales of silicon substrates in 2017 were US$8.7 billion, the annual sales of GaAs substrates were approximately US$800 million, the annual sales of GaN substrates were approximately US$100 million, and the annual sales of SiC substrates were approximately US$300 million. Silicon substrate sales account for more than 85%, and its dominant and core position will not be shaken.
The upstream of the semiconductor industry chain is silicon wafer manufacturing plants. Silicon wafers are the carrier used to produce semiconductors and are the most important upstream raw materials for semiconductors.
Introduction to the classification and manufacturing process of semiconductor silicon wafers
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Silicon wafer market space is huge, and the market share of 12-inch silicon wafers has increased rapidly since 2017, benefiting from the strong demand in the semiconductor terminal market, the downstream traditional application fields have continued to grow in computers, mobile communications, solid-state drives, and industrial electronics markets. The rapid development of emerging application fields such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, Internet of Things, and automotive electronics, the scale of semiconductor silicon wafers has continued to grow, and in 2018, it exceeded the 10 billion US dollars mark. According to SEMI statistics, from 2016 to 2018, global semiconductor silicon wafer sales increased from US$7.209 billion to US$11.4 billion, with a CAGR of 25.75%. Meanwhile, from 2016 to 2018, the global semiconductor silicon wafer shipment area increased from 10.738 billion square inches to 12.732 billion square inches, with a CAGR of 8.89%.
silicon wafer sales are greatly affected by the downstream semiconductor market. The global silicon wafer shipment area is strongly positively correlated with semiconductor sales, and the fluctuation amplitude is closely related. According to Wind statistics, the global silicon wafer shipment area in the second quarter of 2019 was 2983 million square inches, a year-on-year decrease of 5.60% and a month-on-month decrease of 2.33%. According to Wind, TSMC CEO Wei Zhejia expected that his business in the second half of the year will be significantly stronger than in the first half of the year at the Q2 2019 performance disclosure meeting; 3-nanometer process research and development is progressing well. We expect demand in the integrated circuit industry to reach the bottom by the end of 2019. Therefore, the demand for silicon wafers, as the basic raw materials of the integrated circuit industry chain, is under short-term pressure, and as the downstream demand picks up, it will continue to be optimistic in the future.
According to SEMI statistics, as for the 8-inch silicon wafer and 12-inch silicon wafer with the highest market share, starting from 2011, the market share of 8-inch silicon wafers has been stable at 25%-27%. From 2016 to 2017, due to the rapid growth of market demand for automotive electronics, smartphone fingerprint chips and LCD displays, the shipment area of 8-inch silicon wafers increased rapidly, a year-on-year increase of 14.68%. In 2018, benefiting from strong demand in applications such as automotive electronics, industrial electronics, and the Internet of Things, as well as manufacturers of power devices and sensors shifted some production capacity from 150mm to 200mm, and 8-inch silicon wafers continued to maintain a growth of 6.25%.In terms of
12-inch silicon wafers, since the world's first 12-inch chip manufacturing production line was completed in 2000, the market demand for 12-inch silicon wafers has increased rapidly and the shipment area has continued to rise. In 2008, 12-inch silicon wafer shipments exceeded 8-inch silicon wafers for the first time; in 2009, 12-inch silicon wafer shipments exceeded the sum of the shipment areas of other sizes. From 2000 to 2018, due to the continuous and rapid development of terminal markets such as mobile communications and computers, the market share of 12-inch silicon wafers increased significantly from 1.69% to 63.31% in 2018, becoming the most mainstream product in the silicon wafer market. From 2016 to 2018, due to the booming development of emerging terminal markets such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and cloud computing, 12-inch silicon wafers continued to maintain a strong growth trend, with an average annual compound growth rate of 7.51%.
turned to the domestic market. From 2008 to 2013, the development trend of the silicon wafer market in mainland China was consistent with the global silicon wafer market. Since 2014, with the start of various semiconductor manufacturing production lines in China, the continuous progress of manufacturing technology and the rapid development of the terminal product market, the semiconductor silicon wafer market in mainland China has entered a leap stage of development. According to SEMI statistics, from 2016 to 2018, the sales of semiconductor silicon wafers in mainland China rose from US$500 million to US$996 million, with an average annual compound growth rate of 41.17%, far higher than the global growth rate during the same period.
production capacity is gradually released, and 12-inch silicon wafers are still in short supply
semiconductor devices are mostly produced by midstream wafer foundries. The output and crop rate of foundries represent the demand for upstream semiconductor silicon wafers. According to SUMCO data, there will still be a gap in the supply and demand of 12-inch silicon wafers worldwide in the next 3-5 years, and the gap will become larger and larger as the prosperity of the semiconductor cycle recovers. There will be a gap of 1 million pieces per month from to 2022.
According to the data provided by IC insights, among the top eight wafer manufacturers, TSMC, UMC and Lijing are from Taiwan, China, Global Foundry is from the United States, Samsung comes from South Korea, SMIC and Huahong Hongli are from mainland China, and Towerjazz is from Israel. With the cyclical prosperity and the evolution of the 28nm process to the 7nm process, major OEM factories have expanded production and production capacity has begun to be gradually released. Among them, 26 new wafer lines were added in China, with 4 8-inch production lines, and the rest were 12-inch production lines, and the production capacity will be gradually released from 2019. The construction cycle of the
silicon wafer production line is generally 2-3 years, and the investment cost is long, and the investment recovery period is about 6-7 years. In the future, the large silicon wafer production capacity will not have the basis for rapid improvement. While demand is growing rapidly, the large-size silicon wafer market will be in short supply. According to statistics from SUMCO and SEMI, the global demand for 8-inch and 12-inch silicon wafers in 2017 was 5.58 million pieces/month and 5.57 million pieces/month, respectively, and the shipments of 8-inch and 12-inch silicon wafers were 5.3 million pieces/month and 5.5 million pieces/month, respectively, and silicon wafer manufacturers still cannot meet the demand when they are full production. conservatively expects that by 2020, the end market demand for 8-inch and 12-inch will exceed 6.3 million tablets/month and 6.2 million tablets/month respectively.
China wafer breaks the deadlock hope—Shanghai Silicon Industry Group
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2-inch silicon wafers have low self-sufficiency rate, and it is expected to achieve domestic replacement in the future
According to statistics from the Electronics Industry Association, the production of 4-6-inch silicon wafers (including polishing sheets, epitaxial sheets, etc.) in 2016 was about 52 million pieces, which can basically meet the domestic 4-6-inch wafer needs. However, the domestic self-supply rate of large silicon wafers ranging from 8-12-inch is still relatively low. The domestic companies with 8-inch silicon wafer and epitaxial wafer production capacity include Zhejiang Jinruihong, Kunshan Zhongchen, Beijing Youyan New Materials, Nanjing Guosheng, CECT46, and Shanghai Xinao, with a total monthly production capacity of 233,000 films per month. In 2018, the domestic monthly demand for 8-inch silicon wafers is expected to be 800,000, and there is still a large gap. At present, domestic 8-inch silicon wafers are mainly suitable for discrete devices, but the industrialization technology of 8-inch silicon wafers for advanced integrated circuits needs to be improved.
12-inch silicon wafers have always been dependent on imports. The total domestic demand in 2018 was 500,000 pieces per month, and it is estimated that the total demand will be 1.1-1.3 million pieces per month after 2018. At present, China relies on imports in the fields of ultra-pure silicon raw materials, single crystal furnaces, cutting and grinding and polishing equipment, and testing equipment for large silicon wafers. In recent years, my country has made major breakthroughs in the research and development of 8-inch and 12-inch integrated circuit-grade silicon wafers. The country has provided strong support in various aspects such as policies and capital. Chinese local enterprises have begun to develop rapidly under the promotion of market, policies and funds, and are expected to gradually achieve domestic substitution in the future.
It can be seen that the domestic new fab production capacity has a very strong demand for semiconductor large silicon wafers. , but unfortunately, the domestic self-sufficiency rate is very low, and most of it depends on overseas imports. Shanghai Silicon Industry Group's semiconductor large silicon wafers have huge room for future import replacement. The main driving force of Shanghai Silicon Industry Group's future performance is the increase in the domestic new fab production capacity and the improvement of the company's own technology.
Analysis of major competitors: The heroes are in the process of separating and the concentration continues to increase
In 2018, the global semiconductor silicon wafer (including polishing sheets, epitaxial sheets, SOI silicon wafers) industry sales totaled US$12.069 billion. Among them, the market share of the top five companies in the industry is: Japan's Shintsuki Chemical's market share of 29%, Japan's SUMCO's market share of 25%, Germany's Siltronic's market share of 15%, Taiwan's global wafer market share of 14%, and South Korea's SKSiltron's market share of 11%. Silicon Industry Group (including Xinao Technology) accounts for 2.20% of the global semiconductor silicon wafer market.
Because the semiconductor silicon wafer industry has the characteristics of high technical difficulty, long R&D cycle, large capital investment, and long customer certification cycle, the global semiconductor silicon wafer industry has high barriers to entry and high industry concentration. In 2018, the total sales of the world's top five semiconductor silicon wafer companies was 71.878 billion yuan, accounting for as high as 93% of the global semiconductor silicon wafer industry.
From 2016 to 2018, the concentration of the global semiconductor silicon wafer industry continued to increase, and the market share of the five companies, Xinyue Chemical, SUMCO, Siltron, Global Wafer and SKSiltron, increased from 85% to 93%.
Shin-Etsu
Shin-Etsu is a global manufacturer of silicon wafers for integrated circuits. As a raw material manufacturer, Shintsu Etsu Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. has achieved great results in the research and production of the highest quality silicone products carried out in the world since launching the manufacturing and sales of silicone 50 years ago. In order to meet the growing product requirements, "Sinyue Silicone" has established a global production and sales network in Japan, the United States, the Netherlands, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Zhejiang and Shanghai, China, to provide customers with efficient services at a lower cost.
Company's FY2019 revenue was 159.405 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 10.59%. The gross profit was 55.406 billion yen, corresponding to the gross profit rate was 34.76%, an increase of 1.57 percentage points year-on-year.
Xinyue Chemical currently includes six major business units, namely PVC/chlor-alkali business (the world's first), silicone business (the world's fourth), special chemical business (cellulose derivatives - the world's second, metal silicon, polyvinyl alcohol, etc.), semiconductor silicon material business (the world's first), electronic functional materials business (rare earth, packaging materials, LED coatings, photoresist, photomask, synthetic quartz, oxide single crystals, photoresist - the world's second), and diversified business operations (processing plastics, technology exports, equipment, engineering).
Japan Shenggao (Sumco)
Japan SUMCO was formerly Osaka SpecialSteel Company established in 1937. In 1992 and 1998, it successively merged Kyushu Electronic Metals Company and SumitomoSitix Group, and was renamed Sumitomo Metals Industry Company in 1998. In 1999, Sumitomo Metal Industry established a 300mm silicon wafer manufacturing company, Joint Silicon Manufacturing Company, with Mitsubishi Materials and Mitsubishi Silicon Materials. In 2002, Sumitomo Metal Industry's silicon manufacturing division, United Silicon Manufacturing Company and Mitsubishi Silicon Materials Company merged to form Sumitomo Mitsubishi Silicon Company, which was renamed SUMCO Group in 2005.
's main business is the manufacturing of semiconductor silicon wafers. The current product types include high-purity single crystal silicon ingots, high-quality polished silicon wafers, AW high-temperature annealing wafers, EW epitaxial wafers, JIW junction isolation silicon wafers, SOI silicon on insulators, and RPW regenerated polished silicon wafers. High-purity polished silicon wafers, annealed wafers and epitaxial wafers can provide large-size products of 300mm, while SOI silicon wafers can provide large-size products of 200mm.
Company's FY2019 revenue was 32.506 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 24.72%. The gross profit was 11.41 billion yen, corresponding to the gross profit rate was 35.10%, an increase of 8.97 percentage points year-on-year.
In August 2017, SUMCO announced an investment of approximately US$397 million to increase production of its Imali factory, which is the first large-scale increase in production in the past decade. It is expected to increase the monthly production capacity of 12-inch silicon wafers by 110,000 pieces in the first half of 2019.
Taiwan Global Wafer (GlobalWafer)
Global Wafer was the semiconductor business department of SAS Sino-US Silicon Crystal Products Co., Ltd. The Sino-US Silicon Crystal Group was established in Hsinchu Science Industrial Park in 1981. It is currently the largest supplier of 3-inch to 12-inch semiconductor silicon wafer materials in Taiwan, and also provides high-quality solar wafers and crystal rods. In order to enable its business units to have greater growth momentum and more significant operating performance, Sino-US Silicon Crystal completed the independent division of its corporate body on October 1, 2011, and officially divided the semiconductor business and became Global Wafer Co., Ltd.
Global wafers have layouts in Taiwan, mainland China, Japan, Europe and the United States. The company has cooperated with Japanese semiconductor equipment factory Ferrotec to build a Shanghai 8-inch silicon wafer factory, with a monthly production capacity of about 100,000 pieces in the initial stage. At the same time, the two parties have also negotiated to build another 8-inch factory in Hangzhou, and the preliminary plan is to start production by the end of 2019.
Company's FY2018 revenue was NT$6.478 billion, a year-on-year increase of 3.38%. The gross profit was NT$2.472 billion, corresponding to the gross profit margin was 39.45%, an increase of 1.69 percentage points year-on-year.
Germany Siltronic
Siltronic, the world's fourth largest silicon wafer manufacturer, is headquartered in Munich, Germany. The company has a production line of 150/200/300mm in Germany, a 200mm wafer factory in the United States, and 200 and 300mm in Xinjiabo.
SiltronicAG was formerly Wacker-ChemertronicGmbH, founded in 1968, renamed WackerSiltronicGmbH in 1994, and renamed SiltronicAG in 2004. Slitronic is the world's first company to launch a 300mm wafer.
Currently, the company's production bases are located in Burghausen, Freiberg, Portland, and Singapore in the United States. Since January 2014, the company has established a joint venture with Samsung (78% of the company's shares) and operates the world's largest 200mm (230,000 pieces/month) and 300mm (325,000 pieces/month) silicon wafer factories in Singapore.
Siltronic currently supplies silicon wafers to the top 20 wafer manufacturing plants in the world. In 2015, the top ten customers accounted for 65% of the company's revenue. In 2008, the company's capacity utilization rate was only 60%, and in the second half of 2016, it had reached 100%.
Company's FY2019 revenue was 146 million euros, a year-on-year increase of 23.73%. The gross profit was 63 million euros, corresponding to the gross profit margin was 43.38%, an increase of 11.93 percentage points year-on-year.
Korea LGSiltron
LG Siltron is a specialized company under LG for manufacturing semiconductor silicon wafers, the basic material of semiconductor chips. LG Siltron is the only local semiconductor silicon wafer manufacturer in South Korea. The company was founded in 1993. In 1991, the company merged the silicon wafer business unit of South Korea's Lucky Advanced Materials and in 1995, the silicon wafer division of South Korea's Dongyang Electronic Metals. In 1996, 200mm silicon wafers were launched, 300mm silicon wafers were launched in 2002, and 450mm silicon wafers were launched in 2014. SK Group acquired a 51% stake in LGSiltron in January 2017 to break into the semiconductor materials and parts sector.
Company's FY2018 revenue was 134.619 billion won, a year-on-year increase of 44.27%. The gross profit was 42.849 billion won, corresponding to the gross profit rate of 31.83%, an increase of 13.92 percentage points year-on-year.
Electronic special gas: the core product that measures semiconductor technology
Electronic special gas is used in multiple links of IC manufacturing
Gas is the blood of industrial economy development, covering all areas of social production, and affecting the development of science and technology.Electronic gas refers to gases used in the production of semiconductors and other electronic products. Compared with traditional industrial gases, electronic gases have extremely high requirements for the purity of the gas, so they are also called electronic special gases. Special gases are emerging industries that have gradually developed under the industrial gas category with the rise of the electronics industry. They are widely used in integrated circuits, display panels, photovoltaic energy, fiber optic cables, new energy vehicles, aerospace, environmental protection, medical care and other fields. The development of China's electronic gases plays a crucial role in the development of my country's semiconductor chip industry, and is also directly related to the development of the national economy and national strategic security.
electronic gas plays an important role in multiple integrated circuit manufacturing links, especially in the deposition of semiconductor thin films, and is one of the main raw materials for forming thin films.
There are many types of electronic special gases and a wide range of applications. According to SEMI statistics, electronic special gases account for only 5% to 6% of the cost of the entire semiconductor process application. However, due to its wide variety and extensive coverage in semiconductor process processes, it has become the core product for measuring semiconductor technology. The market involved in the production of special gas supply links is still the direction of active layout of domestic and foreign companies.
Special gas classification and production process
Special gas classification methods are many types. For example, according to the chemical composition of the gas itself, it can be divided into seven categories: silicon, arsenic, phosphorus, boron, metal hydride, halide and metal hydrocarbon. According to its role in integrated circuits, it can be divided into seven categories: doping gas, epitaxial gas, ion implantation gas, light emitting diode gas, etching gas, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) gas, and carrier diluted gas. At the same time, there are crossovers of the above categories, such as silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4) belongs to both a silicon-based gas and an epitaxial gas, and is also used in chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The main production processes of
special gas include gas synthesis, gas purification, gas mixing, gas cylinder processing, gas filling, and gas analysis and detection. gas synthesis is to obtain gas crude product through chemical reaction under specific pressure, temperature, catalyst and other conditions. Gas purification is to purify crude products into higher purity products through distillation, adsorption, etc. Gas mixing is to mix two or more effective component gases in a specific proportion to obtain a mixed gas with uniform distribution of multiple components. Gas cylinder treatment is a process of treating the interior, inner wall surface and appearance of the gas cylinder according to the properties and requirements of the carrier gas to ensure the stability of the product during gas storage and transportation. Gas filling refers to filling gas into a gas cylinder and isopressurized container through pressure difference; gas analysis and detection are the process of analyzing and detecting the components of the gas.
In the process shown in the figure above, special gas purification is the core technical barrier of the preparation process. The improvement of purity of special gases can effectively improve the yield and performance of electronic device production. Impurities such as water vapor and oxygen in the electronic special gas can easily generate oxide films on the surface of the semiconductor, affecting the service life of electronic devices. The particle impurities contained in it will cause semiconductor short circuits and line damage. With the continuous development of the semiconductor industry, the production accuracy of products is getting higher and higher. Taking integrated circuit manufacturing as an example, its circuit line width has gone from the initial millimeter level to the micrometer level or even nanometer level, and has also put higher requirements on the purity of electronic special gas used in semiconductor production.
has many factors that affect the improvement of the purity of electronic special gas, which is more difficult. There are many factors that affect the improvement of the purity of electronic special gas, mainly including three aspects:
) Gas separation and purification. In principle, the separation and purification methods of electronic special gas can be divided into three categories: distillation separation, molecular sieve adsorption separation and membrane separation. In the actual purification and separation process, in order to achieve better separation efficiency, multiple separation methods are often used to combine, and the process is more complicated.
) Gas impurities detection and monitoring. As the purity of electronic special gases becomes higher and higher, higher requirements are put forward for analysis and detection methods and instruments, and the detection limit has developed from the earliest ppm level to the ppt level.At present, the analysis of electronic gases abroad has gone through several stages such as offline analysis, online analysis (on-line), in situ analysis (insitu). For the analysis of high-purity electronic gases, foreign countries have developed a complete system analysis and testing method and on-site analysis instruments. Since my country's electronic special gas industry has always focused on production and neglected testing, analysis methods and analytical instruments are relatively backward compared with foreign manufacturers.
) Transport and storage of gas. high-purity electronic special gas is not easy to get. During storage and transportation, high-quality gas packaging storage and transportation containers, as well as corresponding gas delivery pipelines, valves and interfaces are required to ensure that secondary pollution is avoided. my country's overall processing technology is backward and does not comply with international standards, and the market is mainly occupied by foreign companies. The purity of domestic electronic special gases still needs to be improved. At present, the purity of foreign electronic special gases is generally 6 "9" (i.e. 99.9999%), while in China it is mostly between 4-5 "9", and a few can reach 6 "9".
Electronic special gas market space is broad, and the foreign monopoly pattern is obvious
Foreign companies monopolize the market. The domestic production of special gas is imperative
Domestic special gas gradually developed with the rise of the domestic electronic industry in the 1980s, and with the development of medical, food, environmental protection and other industries, application fields and product types continue to be enriched. Due to the obvious gaps in technology, processes, equipment and other aspects, special gas products basically rely on imports in the early stages of development.
According to Zhuochuang Information Data, with the gradual breakthrough of technology, domestic gas companies have developed rapidly in electric light source gas, laser gas, disinfectant gas and other fields. However, compared with foreign gas companies, most domestic gas companies' supply products are still relatively single, and the gas level is not high, especially in high-end fields such as integrated circuits, display panels, photovoltaic energy, fiber and optical cables. In 2017, the market share of foreign gas companies such as Air Chemical Group, Air Liquide Group, Dayang Riac Co., Ltd., Prex Group, Linde Group exceeded 80%. Air Chemical Group, Air Liquide Group, Dayang Riac Co., Ltd., Prex Group, and Linde Group accounted for 25%, 23%, 17%, 16%, and 7%, respectively, while domestic gas companies accounted for only 12%.
Since the introduction of special gases into the Chinese market in the mid-1980s, China's special gas industry has undergone 30 years of development and precipitation. With the continuous accumulation of experience and technological progress, leading enterprises in the industry have made breakthroughs in some products, met international standards, and gradually realized import substitution. The localization of special gases has objective conditions. At the demand level, China has continuously built multiple 8-inch and 12-inch large-scale integrated circuit production lines, high-generation panel production lines, etc. In order to ensure stable supply, timely service, and control costs, the demand for localization of special gases is urgent. In addition, in recent years, the country has successively issued guiding documents such as the "13th Five-Year Plan for the Development of National Strategic Emerging Industries" and the "New Materials Industry Guide", aiming to promote the localization of key materials, including special gases. Therefore, under the influence of multiple factors such as technological progress, demand drive, and policy stimulus, the localization of special gases is imperative.
Huate Co., Ltd.: Pioneer of Domestic Special Gases
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Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP): Main Planarization Process
Introduction to Chemical Mechanical Polishing Process
Chemical Mechanical Polishing Technology (CMP) is a means to obtain global flattening in integrated circuit manufacturing. This process is specially designed to obtain a surface that is both flat and free of scratches and impurities stains. is different from traditional pure mechanical or pure chemical polishing methods. The CMP process uses surface chemistry and mechanical grinding techniques to achieve the removal of different materials on the wafer surface micron/nanometer scale, thereby achieving the height (nanometer scale) planarization effect of the wafer surface, so that the next step of the lithography process can be carried out.The main working principle of
CMP is that under a certain pressure and the presence of polishing liquid , the polished wafer moves relative to the polishing pad, and the mechanical abrasive action of nano-absorbing and the chemical action of various chemical reagents are highly organically combined to make the polished wafer surface meet the requirements of highly planarization, low surface roughness and low defects. According to the requirements of different process processes and technical nodes, each wafer will undergo several or even dozens of CMP polishing process steps during the production process. The main detection parameters of
CMP include grinding rate, grinding uniformity and defect amount . The grinding rate refers to the total amount of surface material of the circular sheet per unit time. Grinding uniformity is divided into in-disc grinding uniformity and interdisc grinding uniformity. In-piece grinding uniformity refers to the ratio of the standard variance of the grinding rate of a certain wafer to the grinding rate; the grinding uniformity between wafers is used to represent the consistency of the grinding rate of different wafers under the same conditions. For CMP, the main defects include surface particles, surface scratches, abrasive residues, etc., which will directly affect the product yield. The device material loss after
CMP process is less than 10% of the entire device thickness. That is to say, not only should the material be effectively removed, but it should also be able to accurately control the removal rate and final effect. As the device feature size continues to shrink, the impact of defects on process control and final yield is becoming increasingly obvious. Reducing defects is the core technical requirement of the CMP process. The equipment and consumables used in
CMP technology include: polishing machines, polishing liquids, polishing pads, post-CMP cleaning equipment, polishing end-point measurement and process control equipment, waste treatment and testing equipment, etc. The CMP equipment is mainly divided into two parts, namely the polishing part and the cleaning part. The polishing part consists of 4 parts, namely 3 polishing turntables and a disk loading and unloading module. Cleaning The part is responsible for cleaning and drying the discs, so as to achieve the "dry in and out" of the discs.
polishing pad: CMP process technology core
polishing pad is a key component for transporting and accommodating polishing liquid. In the process of chemical mechanical polishing, the function of the polishing pad is: 1) effectively and evenly transporting the polishing liquid to different areas of the polishing pad; 2) smoothly discharge the polishing reactants, debris, etc. to achieve the removal effect; 3) maintain the polishing liquid film on the surface of the polishing pad so that the chemical reaction is fully carried out; 4) maintain the smoothness of the polishing process and the surface does not deform to obtain a better surface morphology of the wafer;
Polishing pads can be divided into abrasive polishing pads and abrasive-free polishing pads according to whether they contain abrasive polishing pads can be divided into abrasive polishing pads and abrasive-free polishing pads according to the material, Non-woven polishing pads and composite polishing pads; according to the surface structure, they can be divided into planar polishing pads, mesh polishing pads and spiral polishing pads. In addition, polishing pads can also be divided into hard polishing pads and soft polishing pads. Generally, a hard polishing pad can better ensure the flatness of the workpiece surface and a high material removal rate, while a soft polishing pad can obtain a polishing surface with very small processing deterioration layer and surface roughness. Among them, the hard polishing pad includes various coarse cloth pads, fiber fabric pads, polyethylene pads, etc., and the soft pads include various fluff pads, polyurethane pads, and fine felt pads.
Since CMP is based on the working principle of selective removal of convex peak materials on the polishing surface, a harder polishing pad is more conducive to material removal and can obtain a higher flatness, but excessive hardness can easily cause surface damage and uneven material removal. Although the softer polishing pad can obtain a smooth surface with small surface roughness and processed deterioration layer, its contact surface is prone to deformation and does not have the selective removal of the convex peak material, so the polishing efficiency is low and the planarity is poor. The physical characteristics of
polishing pads are closely related to the efficiency and quality of CMP: (1) The hardness of the polishing pads largely determines the ability to retain their surface shape accuracy. A harder polishing pad is conducive to obtaining a polished surface with better flatness, while a softer polishing pad can ensure good surface quality and a shallow processed deterioration layer. (2) The elastic modulus and shear modulus of the polishing pad are key factors affecting processing performance.The polishing pad with high elastic modulus has a strong ability to withstand contact loads and has high polishing efficiency. The shear modulus determines the ability of the polishing pad to resist upward forces in the direction of rotation, and the material removal rate is inversely proportional to it, and the temperature will affect the shear modulus of the polishing pad. The polishing pad with strong elastic modulus and shear modulus retaining ability has a long life and good polishing effect. (3) The degree of fit between the polishing pad and the wafer surface is affected by its compression performance, and the polishing efficiency and the planeness of the processing surface are closely related to this.
In order to achieve high polishing efficiency, the polishing pad should selectively remove the raised portion of the working surface and avoid affecting the recessed portion of the surface as much as possible. A polishing pad with good compressibility can avoid contact with the concave area surface, and better selectively remove the convex peak material, so it has high polishing efficiency. However, too much compressibility of the polishing pad will be detrimental to the uniform removal of the polishing surface material, so the compressibility should be controlled within an appropriate range.
polishing liquid: The most expensive part of CMP technology
polishing liquid is a water-soluble polishing agent that does not contain any sulfur, phosphorus, and chlorine additives. It has good oil removal, anti-rust, cleaning and gloss enhancement properties, and can make metal products exceed their original luster. product has stable performance, non-toxicity, and is pollution-free to the environment. The main products of polishing liquid can be divided into the following categories according to the main components: diamond polishing liquid (polycrystal diamond polishing liquid, single crystal diamond polishing liquid and nanodiamond polishing liquid), silicon oxide polishing liquid (i.e. CMP polishing liquid), cerium oxide polishing liquid, alumina polishing liquid and silicon carbide polishing liquid, etc.
silicon oxide polishing liquid (CMP polishing liquid) is a high-purity low-metal ion polishing product produced by special processes using high-purity silicon powder as raw material. It is widely used in the polishing processing of nanoscale high-planarization polishing of various materials, such as: silicon wafers, germanium sheets, compound semiconductor materials gallium arsenide, indium phosphide, precision optical devices, sapphire sheets, etc. The main function of CMP polishing liquid is to provide polishing and corrosion dissolution for polishing objects.
In the chemical mechanical polishing process, a chemical reaction occurs between the polishing liquid and the wafer, forming a passivation film on the surface of the wafer, and then the abrasive in the polishing liquid uses mechanical force to remove the reaction product. Therefore, the polishing liquid has an important impact on the polishing efficiency and processing quality. The main components of
CMP polishing liquid generally include: deionized water, abrasives, pH adjusters, oxidants, inhibitors and surfactants.
In addition, the flow rate of the polishing liquid also has a great impact on the polishing effect. When the flow rate of the polishing liquid is too small, the friction between the wafer, abrasive and polishing pad increases, and the temperature increases, resulting in an increase in the roughness of the processing surface and a decrease in the surface flatness; when the flow rate is large, the reaction product can be disengaged from the processing surface in time, and the temperature in the processing area can also be reduced, so that the processing surface temperature is relatively consistent, thereby obtaining better surface quality. However, when the flow rate of the polishing liquid is too high, it will damage the flatness of the processing surface and reduce the polishing efficiency. At present, a method widely used by many companies is to use a smaller flow rate in the initial stage of polishing. As the temperature in the processing area increases, the flow rate gradually increases to the average value, and a larger flow rate in the final stage.
technological progress brings growth opportunities to CMP polishing materials
Semiconductor integrated circuit technology is constantly advancing, and a variety of new technologies and new substrate materials will inevitably emerge. These new technologies and new substrate materials have put forward many new requirements for polishing process materials.
Specifically, more advanced logic chip processes will require polishing new materials, bringing more growth opportunities for CMP polishing materials. For example, the key CMP process required by logic chip processes below 14nm will reach more than 20 steps, and the polishing liquid used will increase from five or six polishing liquids of 90nm to more than twenty types, and the types and usage will increase rapidly; the CMP polishing step in logic chip processes below 7nm and below may even reach 30 steps, and the types and types of polishing liquids used will be close to 30. In addition, the transformation of memory chips from 2D NAND to 3D NAND technology will also almost double the CMP polishing step.Even for the same technical node, different customers have different technical levels and process characteristics, and the demand for polishing materials is also different.
CMP materials have low domestic yields and large import substitution space
According to IC Insights statistics, the global CMP polishing materials market size in 2018 was US$2.01 billion, of which the market size of polishing liquid and polishing pads was US$1.27 billion and US$740 million, respectively. The market size of China's polishing liquid is approximately RMB 1.6 billion, and the annual compound growth rate of the global CMP polishing materials market size is expected to be 6% from 2017 to 2020.
polishing pads dominate, with polishing liquid monopoly in the United States and Japan
According to data from Liding Industry Research Center, the main supplier of CMP polishing pads is Dow Chemical, the US, with a market share of 79%. Dow's 20-inch polishing pads occupy 85% of the market share, and the 30-inch market share is even higher. The second is the American Cabot company, which has a market share of 5%, followed by ThomasWest, FOJIBO, and JSR, which has a market share of 4%, 2%, and 1%, respectively. Domestic companies basically have no say in this field. Like other semiconductor core raw materials, CMP polishing pads have the characteristics of high technical threshold, long customer certification cycle, close connection between upstream and downstream interests of the supply chain, high industry concentration, and fast product updates. This greatly increases the entry threshold and product added value in the industry.
Dow Chemical was founded in 1987. It is a multinational company mainly based on technology. Dow has factories in more than 50 countries and regions around the world. It mainly develops and produces a series of chemical products, plastics and agrochemical products. Its products are widely used in construction, water purification, papermaking, medicines, transportation, food and food packaging, household goods and personal care fields. The company's business involves 180 countries and regions.
In 2018, Dow Chemical's revenue was US$60.3 billion, a 9% increase from US$55.5 billion in 2017. Dow Chemical's main businesses include coatings and performance monomers, construction chemicals, consumer solutions, crop protection, electronics and imaging, energy solutions, hydrocarbons and energy, industrial biological sciences, industrial solutions, nutrition and health, packaging and specialty plastics, polyurethanes and CAVs, safety and construction, etc.
In the Electronics and Imaging business (ElectronicsImaging), Dow Chemical provides a wide portfolio of semiconductor and advanced packaging materials, including chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) pads and slurries, photoresist and advanced coatings, metallization solutions for rear-end advanced chip packaging, and silicones for light emitting diode (LED) packaging and semiconductor AP. In 2018, the electronics and imaging business revenue was US$2.615 billion, accounting for 4.71% of total revenue. In terms of
polishing liquid, has long been monopolized by 's global chemical mechanical polishing liquid market by US and Japanese companies, includes CabotMicroelectronics, Versum and Fujimi of Japan. According to the company's annual report, the US Cabot has the highest global polishing liquid market share, but it has dropped from about 80% in 2000 to about 35% in 2017, which shows that the global polishing liquid market is developing towards diversification and the regional localization self-sufficiency rate has increased.
Cabot is the world's leading supplier of chemical mechanical polishing fluids and the second largest supplier of chemical mechanical polishing pads. In 2018, Cabot's total sales revenue was US$590 million, of which the sales revenue of tungsten polishing liquid and dielectric polishing other metal polishing liquid was US$461 million, accounting for 78.28%, accounting for 42.88%, 23.65% and 11.75% respectively. Compared with 2017, the revenues of tungsten polishing liquid, dielectric polishing liquid, polishing pads and other metal polishing liquids increased by 14.3%, 16.1%, 21%, and 10.3%, respectively. Cabot's customers mainly come from Asia, with Asia's operating income accounting for 79.85% of the total market, followed by the United States and Europe, accounting for 13.39% and 6.76% of the total operating income respectively.
According to the prospectus of Anji Microelectronics, the domestic market's polishing liquid for chips is mainly dominated by Cabot, Dow Chemical, Fujim and Anji Microelectronics. In 2017, the total sales market share of foreign manufacturers exceeded 65.7%, showing an oligopoly pattern.In 2017, China's CMP polishing liquid production reached 5.38 million liters, which is expected to reach 41 million liters in 2025, with an annual output value of 137 million yuan in 2017 and an annual compound growth rate of 21.9% from 2018 to 2025.
Compared with foreign giants, my country's polishing liquid market has a low degree of domestic production and its products are mainly used in the mid- and low-end fields. has important manufacturers in this field, including Shanghai Xin'anna Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., Hubei Haili Tianheng Nano Technology Co., Ltd., Hunan Haozhi Technology Co., Ltd., etc.
Dinglong Co., Ltd. is a leading polishing pad industry in my country
Hubei Dinglong Holdings Co., Ltd. was founded in 2000. It is a national high-tech enterprise engaged in the research and development, production and services of integrated circuit chips and process technology materials, photoelectric display materials, printing and copying consumables, etc.
Dinglong Co., Ltd.'s main business is divided into: printing and copying general consumables business and optoelectronic semiconductor process materials business. Among them:
printing and copying general consumables business, the main products include: color polymerization toner, consumable chips, developing rollers, general toner cartridges, glues, etc.; the optoelectronic semiconductor process materials business is the company's new business extension direction in recent years, and its main products include: research, development, production, manufacturing and sales of chemical machinery CMP polishing pads, cleaning liquids and flexible display substrate PI slurries.
Dinglong has built the only domestic and internationally advanced integrated circuit chip CMP polishing pad production and research base
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Anji Technology breaks through the monopoly of foreign CMP polishing liquid
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Photomask: an important link in semiconductor manufacturing
Photomask is generally called photomask and mask version. It is a graphic master used in the photolithography process in microelectronics manufacturing. The opaque light-shielding film forms a mask pattern on the transparent substrate, and the graphics are transferred to the product substrate through exposure. The photomask is mainly composed of two parts: a substrate and an opaque material. As a high-precision tool for transferring circuit graphics "bottom" in the manufacturing process of semiconductor and liquid crystal displays, photomask is a very critical part of the semiconductor manufacturing process.
photomask upstream mainly includes graphic design, photomask equipment and materials industries, and downstream mainly includes IC manufacturing, IC packaging, flat display and printed circuit board industries, and is used in mainstream consumer electronics, laptops, automotive electronics, network communications, household appliances, LED lighting, Internet of Things, medical electronics and other terminal products.
photomask industry is located in the upstream of the electronic information industry. Its leading product photomask is the downstream electronic component manufacturers (core molds in the production and manufacturing process, which plays a role as a bridge and a link. The products of electronic component manufacturers are widely used in consumer electronics, home appliances, automobiles and other electronic products fields.
Photomask process introduction
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oligopoly monopoly, domestic enterprises can only meet the needs of medium and low-end
According to Qingyi Optoelectronics prospectus data, the semiconductor photomask market concentration is high and the oligopoly monopoly is serious, and Phototronics, DNP of Japan Printing Co., Ltd. and Toppan of Japan Expression Printing Co., Ltd. More than 80% of the market share. my country's photomask version industry can only meet the demand of the domestic mid- and low-end product market, while high-end photomask version is directly provided by foreign companies. In recent years, my country's photomask market size has maintained steady growth. In 2015, the market size of my country's photomask version demand was 5.67 billion yuan, and the domestic demand market size increased to 5.95 billion yuan in 2016, a scale of 4.9% compared with the same period last year.
According to Qingyi Optoelectronics prospectus data, From the perspective of demand, my country's mask version demand grew steadily. In 2011, the mask version demand was 50,900 square meters. In 2016, my country's photomask version demand reached 79,800 square meters, with an annual compound growth rate of 9.41%. from the supply perspective, in 2011, the production scale of photomask version in my country was 8,700 square meters, and in 2016, the production scale increased to 16,900 square meters, with a compound growth rate of 14.20%.
Qingyi Optoelectronics: the domestic photomask leader
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Wet electronic chemicals: a wide range of subdivided products and a wide range of application fields
Wet electronic chemicals, also known as process chemicals or ultra-clean high-purity reagents. It has a wide variety of types and is widely used, and is a variety of electronic chemical materials used in the wet process of microelectronics and photoelectronics. As an innovative product combining electronic technology and chemical materials, has the characteristics of high technical threshold, large capital investment, and fast product updates. Ultra-pure high-purity reagents generally require dust particle size to be controlled below 0.5µm, impurity content is lower than ppm (10-6 is ppm, 10-9 is ppb, and 10-12 is ppt), and are the reagents with the highest requirements for particle size control and impurity content among chemical reagents. Currently, it is widely used in the cleaning and etching process links of electronic components such as semiconductors, solar silicon wafers, LEDs and flat panel displays. The preparation of wet chemicals must strictly comply with the International Semiconductor Materials and Equipment Organization (SEMI) standards. SEMI has formulated corresponding ultra-pure actual requirements according to different application fields, including regulations on indicators such as metal magazine, particle size, number of particles, and adaptation to IC line width range. G1 grade belongs to low-end products, G2 belongs to low-end products, G3 belongs to mid-to-high-end products, and G4 and G5 belongs to high-end products.
is mainly used in semiconductors, flat panel displays, solar cells and other fields
Wet electronic chemicals are mainly divided into general chemicals and functional chemicals according to their purpose. , general chemicals refer to a single, highly pure reagent, which is widely used in integrated circuits, liquid crystal displays, solar cells, and LED manufacturing processes, mainly including various acids, alkalis and solvents. Among them, acids include: hydrogen peroxide, hydrofluoric acid, sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, acetic acid (acetic acid), oxalic acid (oxalic acid), etc.; alkalis include: ammonium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, nano hydroxide, ammonium fluoride, etc.; solvents include: methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, acetone, butyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketone, ethyl acetate, butyl acetate, isomyl acetate, toluene, xylene, cyclohexane, trichloroethane, trichloroethylene, etc. Functional chemicals refer to formula or compound chemicals that achieve special functions through compounding means and meet the special process needs in manufacturing, mainly including developer, choke-stripping, cleaning liquid, etching liquid, etc.
Wet electronic chemicals divided by application fields are mainly concentrated in semiconductors, flat panel displays, solar cells and other fields. is divided into the process links of downstream product applications, mainly including the application of flat panel display manufacturing processes, semiconductor manufacturing processes, and solar panel manufacturing processes. Among them, the demand for wet electronic chemicals in the flat panel display manufacturing field is the highest, and wet electronic chemicals for semiconductor manufacturing processes have the highest technical requirements, mainly focusing on SEMI3 and G4 standards. Currently, a few companies in China have product technology that can reach the G2 level, and some companies have completed the delivery of samples for G3 level products.
Wet chemical process technology requirements for semiconductors
According to the technical requirements of downstream industries, wet electronic chemicals for semiconductor manufacturing processes have the highest requirements, and is generally above G3 level. The gradual increase in line width requirements of the semiconductor industry has also prompted the gradual improvement of the purity requirements of the corresponding supporting wet electronic chemicals. Therefore, meeting the processing needs of nano-scale integrated circuits is one of the future development directions of ultra-clean high-purity reagents. The semiconductor industry is divided into two major branches: integrated circuits and discrete devices. According to the process flow, it is mainly divided into chip design, front-section wafer production and rear-section packaging testing. The front wafer production is the core process of the entire semiconductor manufacturing, and lithography and etching technology are the key technologies for wafer production. The technical requirements for wet electronic chemicals required are very high, usually reaching G3, G4 or above.
During the entire wafer manufacturing process, wet electronic chemicals need to participate in the cleaning, lithography, etching and other process processes that appear in wafer manufacturing from beginning to end. In the manufacturing process of semiconductor integrated circuits, wet electronic chemicals mainly participate in the wafer manufacturing process in the front section of semiconductor integrated circuits, and are also the highest link in technical requirements.And as the integration of integrated circuits continues to improve, the line width is required to continue to decrease, the film continues to thin, and the technical level of wet electronic chemicals is also higher. At the same time, in order to meet the technical performance requirements of smaller chip sizes, more powerful functions and lower energy consumption, the technical requirements for wet electronic chemicals required in the field of high-end packaging are also increasing.
Ultra-clean high-purity reagents for semiconductor integrated circuit manufacturing processes are the highest technical requirements for downstream industries of wet electronic chemicals. The second is the field of flat panel display. In the semiconductor production process, there are dozens of processes in large-scale integrated circuit processes. Various factors such as air, water, various gases, chemical reagents, working environment, electromagnetic environment noise and micro vibration, operators, tools and equipment used may bring pollutants. These pollutants may be particles, inorganic ions, organic matter, microorganisms, and gas impurities during the process manufacturing process. These pollutants all require relevant ultra-clean and high-purity reagents to be removed. When the number of pollutants exceeds a certain limit, the integrated circuit product will suffer from surface scratches, graphic wire breaks, short circuits, pinholes, peeling and other phenomena. This will lead to leakage, abnormal electrical characteristics, etc., which will affect the service life of the circuit in mild cases, and may lead to the scrapping of the circuit in severe cases.
Current status of development of foreign wet electronic chemicals: Europe, the United States and Japan occupy the main market share
On a global scale, Europe, the United States and Japan are the main suppliers of wet electronic chemicals. According to Zhiyan Consulting data, traditional European and American wet electronic chemical companies account for about 33% of the market share, and representative companies include German BASF , American Ashland Group, German e.merck Company, American Honeywell Company, etc. These old chemical companies have strong technical advantages, and their product grades can reach SEMI G4 and above, which is almost in the same order as the development of semiconductor manufacturing; the second sector is that about ten Japanese wet electronic chemical companies account for about 27% of the global market share. Although the development of Japanese chemical industry is later than that of European and American veteran companies, it has a fast development speed. The current process technology level is basically the same as that of European and American companies.
At present, the wet electronic chemical industry and high-end market are mainly dominated by European, American and Japanese companies; the third sector is occupied by the wet electronic chemical market in South Korea and Greater China, accounting for about 38% of the market share. The production technology and process of wet electronic chemicals in South Korea and Taiwan are relatively high, and can compete with production technologies in Europe, America and Japan in the high-end market. There is still a certain gap between the wet electronic chemical companies in mainland China and the overall level of the world.
According to Zhiyan Consulting data, The main international large wet electronic chemical manufacturers include E.Merck in Germany, Ashland in the United States, Sigma-Aldrich in Mallinckradt Baker in Japan, Wako in Japan, Summitomo, etc. 018, these companies accounted for 80% of the world's production capacity. By studying the business models of chemical reagent industries in developed countries, such as the United States, Germany, Japan, Switzerland and other countries. The development of the chemical reagent industry will go through three stages. In the first stage, enterprises need to achieve self-production and self-sale of products through independent operations; in the second stage, they develop towards supporting equipment, reagents, and services to achieve full product line supply; in the third stage, the R&D capabilities, marketing networks and financial strength of large international chemical reagent enterprises have obvious advantages in competition, the industry has shown a pattern of alliance cooperation, reorganization and mergers, and the market concentration has rapidly increased.
The domestic wet electronic chemical market is growing rapidly, and the future space is broad
In the domestic market, foreign investment still accounts for a large share, and wet electronic chemicals are mainly occupied by European, American, Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese companies. In recent years, mainland China, Taiwan and South Korea have developed rapidly in the production capacity and process level of wet electronic chemicals, and have a tendency to compete with similar companies in Europe, America and Japan. In addition, its share in the market has gradually increased. Mainland China has the greatest development potential in the development of wet electronic chemicals, especially the high-end market. In recent years, mainland Chinese companies have begun to make efforts, which is reflected in their gradual progress towards high-end IC applications. Currently, hydrogen peroxide, ammonia and nitric acid produced by mainland China, such as Suzhou Jingrui, has reached the SEMI G5 standard; electroplating copper sulfate solution produced in Xinyang, Shanghai can be used in 8-12-inch production lines; Kaisheng fluorine can already provide hydrofluoric acid for 12-inch production lines; Grinda Chemical's positive glue developer not only fills the domestic gap, but also exports it to overseas in large quantities.
According to data from the Zhan Industry Research Institute, the scale of my country's wet electronic chemical market has increased from 1.502 billion yuan in 2009 to 7.962 billion yuan in 2018, with an annual compound growth rate of 20.36%. In 2018, the domestic demand for wet electronic chemicals was approximately 905,100 tons. By 2020, the scale of my country's wet electronic chemical market is expected to exceed 10.50 billion yuan, the demand will reach 1.4704 million tons, and the compound growth rate is expected to reach 27.46%. The demand in the three major industries will increase to varying degrees. The demand in the panel industry is about 691,000 tons, the demand in the semiconductor field is 435,300 tons, and the demand in the solar market is about 344,100 tons.
Currently, domestic wet electronic chemicals are mainly imported. China's research foundation and production process in the wet electronic chemical industry are lagging behind a certain degree compared with developed countries. It is impossible to realize the production technology of high-end products for a long time. 80% of domestic products are mainly imported at high prices. Domestic ultra-clean and high-purity reagents for integrated circuits of 8 inches and above and above flat panel displays are mainly based on foreign imports.
Entering the 21st century, domestic panel manufacturers have rapidly expanded production, so the demand for upstream wet electronic chemicals has gradually increased, expanding the production of wet electronic chemicals, among which liquid crystal panels have the largest demand for wet chemicals. In the future, the output of the solar cell industry will be expected to increase, and the demand for wet electronic chemicals will continue to increase. Compared with imported foreign products, my country's wet electronic chemicals have obvious price advantages and reduce transportation costs, which can solve the demand for timely supply. Some domestic enterprises have made breakthrough progress in product research and development through years of accumulation. The situation of foreign technology monopoly has gradually broken down and narrowed the gap with foreign companies, and there is broad room for development for import substitution in the future.
In recent years, my country's leading enterprises have developed rapidly, invested heavily, and had strong independent innovation capabilities, and are expected to enter the high-end market.
photoresist: the key to fine pattern processing
photoresist technology principle and classification
photoresist is a photosensitive mixed liquid composed of photoinitiators (including photosensitive agents, photoacid generators), photoresist resins, monomers (reactive diluents), solvents and other additives. After irradiation or radiation from light sources such as ultraviolet light, excimer laser, electron beam, ion beam, X-ray, etc., its solubility will change. Photoresist has photochemical sensitivity. Through exposure, development, etching and other processes, the designed fine patterns can be transferred from the mask plate to the substrate to be processed. Photoresist is currently widely used in the processing and production of micro graphics routes in the radio and television information industry. As a key material for micro processing technology, it plays an important role in the processing and production of PCB, LCD and semiconductor wafers. Due to the constraints of existing technology, various products in the market have dominated by foreign companies, and domestic companies are seeking a path of development.
photoresist can be classified according to different product standards. According to the principles of chemical reaction and development, photoresist can be divided into positive photoresist and negative photoresist. If the unexposed part dissolves in the developer during development, the pattern formed is opposite to the mask plate, and is called a negative photoresist; if the exposed part dissolves in the developer during development, the pattern formed is the same as the mask plate, and is called a positive photoresist. In actual application, since negative photoresist is prone to deformation and expansion during development, the resolution can only reach 2 microns in general, so positive photoresist is more widely used.
is classified according to the chemical structure of the photosensitive resin. Photoresist can be divided into three categories: photopolymerization type, photodecomposition type and photocrosslinking type. photopolymerization type can form positive photoresist. It is a process in which the monomer is used to generate free radicals under the action of light, thereby further initiating monomer polymerization and finally forming polymers; the photodecomposition type photoresist can be made into positive rubber, and the photodecomposition reaction occurs after light is irradiated by using a material containing azide quinone compounds. The photocrosslinking type, that is, polyvinyl alcohol laurate, etc., is used as photosensitive materials. Under the action of light, the double bonds in its molecules are opened and crosslinked between the chains to form an insoluble mesh structure, thus playing a corrosion-resistant role. It is a typical negative photoresist.
According to the exposure wavelength classification, photoresist can be divided into ultraviolet resist (300~450nm), deep ultraviolet resist (160~280nm), extreme ultraviolet resist (EUV, 13.5nm), electron beam resist, ion beam resist, X-ray resist, etc. The applicable limit resolution of photoresist is also different under different exposure wavelengths. When the processing method is consistent, the smaller the wavelength, the better the processing resolution.
According to different application fields, photoresist can be divided into photoresist for printed circuit boards (PCBs), photoresist for liquid crystal displays (LCDs), photoresist for semiconductors, and photoresist for other purposes. The technical barriers of PCB photoresist are lower than those of the other two categories, , and semiconductor photoresist represents the most advanced level of photoresist technology.
industry barriers are obvious, and the three major sectors promote the vigorous development
photoresist belongs to a wide range of industrial chain, from the upstream basic chemical materials industry and fine chemical industry, to midstream photoresist preparation, and then to downstream electronic processors and electronic product application terminals. Photoresist is the upstream material of the micrographic processing core of micro-electronics field, occupying the highest point of electronic materials.
Special chemicals for photoresist have the characteristics of high market concentration, high technical barriers and high customer barriers. Lithography glues with the same purpose of require a lot of investment, the industry has a large barrier to exit, and at the same time, there are many similar characteristics of photoresist-specific chemicals, such as many varieties, small usage, and high quality requirements. Also, because the market share is small compared with downstream industries, the industry concentration is high; photoresist is used for processing micro graphics, with complex production processes and high technical barriers. The main parameters of photoresist include resolution, contrast, and sensitivity-related factors, and its viscosity and adhesion need to be considered. Technical parameters of resolution are used to measure the key dimensional problems formed; contrast is used to measure the steepness of the photoresist from the exposed area to the non-exposed area; sensitivity is used to describe the minimum energy value of the wavelength of light required for good graphics quality.
Multiple technical factors have comprehensive considerations to make the technical barriers of photoresist higher; the customer barriers of photoresist higher. The photoresist products on the market are updated at a fast speed. In order to achieve technical confidentiality, photoresist manufacturers will maintain close cooperative relations with upstream raw material suppliers and jointly develop new technologies, which will increase customer conversion costs. Therefore, the upstream and downstream cooperation in the photoresist industry is in a relationship of mutual dependence and interdependence, which makes customers' entry barriers higher.
As the integration degree of integrated circuits continues to improve, it has gone from the original micrometer level to the nanometer level. In order to match the density and integration level of integrated circuits, the resolution level of the photoresist prepared is gradually from the ultraviolet broad spectrum to the g-line (436nm), i-line (365nm), KrF (248nm), ArF (193nm), F2 (157nm), and the most advanced EUV (13.5nm) line levels. In the market, g-line and i-line photoresist are the most used photoresist, and the core technologies of KrF and ArF photoresist are basically monopolized by Japanese and American companies.
Semiconductor photoresist: Domestic enterprises have low market share and great development potential
The quality and performance of photoresist have a crucial impact on the performance, yield and reliability of integrated circuits. The general semiconductor lithography process requires the process of cleaning and drying of silicon wafer surface, primer coating, spin-coating photoresist, soft baking, alignment exposure, medium baking, development, hard baking, etching, and detection.Semiconductor photoresist can be divided into g-line (436nm), i-line (365nm), KrF (248nm), ArF (193nm) and EUV (13.4nm) according to the exposure wavelength. The shorter the exposure wave, the higher the limit resolution of the photoresist, so as to cope with the requirements of miniaturization and diversification of downstream semiconductor products.
Take the action mechanism of 248nmKrF photoresist as an example. The photoacid-generating agent in the photoresist decomposes the acid after exposure. During medium-baking, the acid acts as a catalyst to remove the protective group (positive glue) of the film-forming resin or the catalytic crosslinking agent and the film-forming resin crosslinking reaction (negative glue); after the above reaction occurs, the acid is re-released and the catalytic reaction continues. The composition of semiconductor photoresist is basically similar to that of PCB photoresist and LCD photoresist, and consists of photoresist resin and photoinitiator. However, semiconductor lithography glue is much higher than the other two categories in terms of performance and price, and the requirements for resins and initiators in terms of performance, quality and specifications are extremely strict.
According to SEMI data, the global market for semiconductor photoresist and supporting materials for semiconductors reached US$1.45 billion and US$1.91 billion respectively in 2016, a year-on-year increase of 9.0% and 8.0% respectively compared with 2015. The global semiconductor photoresist market in 2017 and 2018 has reached US$1.60 billion and US$1.73 billion, respectively. With the construction of 12-inch advanced technology node production lines and the large number of applications of multiple exposure processes, the demand for 193nm and other advanced photoresist will increase rapidly. In 2019, the global semiconductor photoresist market will reach US$1.77 billion.
Semiconductor photoresist As the highest-end component of photoresist, Chinese local enterprises currently only have a low market share. According to data from China Industry Information Network, in 2017, my country's semiconductor photoresist accounted for 32% of the world's market share, ranking first in the world. However, the self-sufficiency rate of g/i-line photoresist suitable for 6-inch silicon wafers is about 20%, the self-sufficiency rate of KrF photoresist suitable for 8-inch silicon wafers is less than 5%, while the ArF photoresist suitable for 12-inch silicon wafers relies entirely on imports. At present, the domestic semiconductor photoresist market is mainly occupied by Japanese and American companies, which is mainly reflected in the fact that the core technologies of high-resolution KrF and ArF photoresist are basically monopolized, and the products are also from monopoly companies. The market share of semiconductor photoresist in the three major industries of PCB photoresist, LCD photoresist and semiconductor photoresist is only 2%, highlighting the shortcomings of my country's semiconductor photoresist industry.
China's semiconductor market has the fastest growth rate in the world, and the world's semiconductor industry is shifting to China. According to statistics from the American Semiconductor Industry Association, the global semiconductor market size in 2018 was US$469.1 billion, a year-on-year increase of 15.80%, and the growth contribution mainly comes from China; in 2018, the size of China's semiconductor market was US$158.16 billion, with a growth rate of 21.92%, accounting for 32% of the global market. Semiconductor production capacity is continuing to shift to the Asia-Pacific region, especially mainland China. At the same time, with the further rise of downstream industries such as 5G, consumer electronics, and automotive electronics, it is expected that the scale of China's semiconductor industry will further grow. In recent years, global semiconductor manufacturers have invested in and established many factories in mainland China, such as TSMC Nanjing factory, UMC Xiamen factory, Intel Dalian factory, Samsung Electronics Xi'an factory, Lijing Hefei factory, etc. The establishment of many semiconductor factories has also driven the growth of demand for domestic semiconductor optical resist market.
The semiconductor photoresist market has more than 90% of the market share is occupied by companies such as Sumitomo Japan, Shingotsu Chemical, JSR, TOK, and Dow in the United States. There is a big gap between the domestic semiconductor photoresist technology and foreign advanced technologies. At present, there are only five semiconductor photoresist production and R&D enterprises in my country, namely Suzhou Ruihong (a subsidiary of Jingrui Co., Ltd.), Beijing Kehua, Nanda Optoelectronics, Rongda Photosensitive, and Shanghai Xinyang.
According to the special data of the Ministry of Science and Technology 02, Suzhou Ruihong undertakes the "I-line photoresist product development and industrialization" of the national major scientific and technological project, and is the first to realize mass production of I-line photoresist nationwide. It is currently in the process of glue production capacity of 100 tons/year, thick film photoresist production capacity of 20 tons/year, and 248nm (KrF) photoresist entering the pilot stage; Beijing Kehua can achieve I-line photoresist production capacity of 500 tons/year, and 248nm (KrF) photoresist production capacity of 10 tons/year, and the national major science and technology project of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photoresist project it participates in has passed the acceptance; Nanda Optoelectronics plans to invest 656 million yuan, and 25 tons/year to complete an annual production capacity of 193nm in three years (ArF) and immersion) photoresist production line, the launch project has been officially approved by the National 02 special project.
LCD photoresist: Downstream panel production capacity stimulates LCD photoresist steadily develops
panel photoresist is mainly used in the production of display pixels, electrodes, barriers, fluorescent powder dot matrix, etc. in LCD processing. In the process of processing and making large screen and high-resolution flat panel displays, in order to reduce printing accuracy errors, only through lithography technology. In LCD manufacturing, most UV positive photoresist is used in graphics processing, that is, it is composed of photosensitive glue, alkali-soluble resin and solvent. It is a transparent red viscous liquid. UV positive photoresist can be diluted with organic solvents such as alcohols, ethers, and esters. It will produce precipitation after contacting water, and decompose by heat and light. It is a combustible liquid. Its substrate has good adhesion, good exposure tolerance and development tolerance, high film retention rate after development, and good coating uniformity.
LCD photoresist has high technical barriers, and the LCD photoresist market is currently mainly monopolized by Japanese and Korean manufacturers. LCD photoresist technology has high barriers and has been monopolized by foreign countries for a long time. According to data from China Industry Information Network, the main manufacturers of TFT positive photoresist include Tokyo Aingche (TOK), Romon Haas, South Korea AZ and DONGJIN SEMICHEM, and Taiwan Yongguang Chemical; the color photoresist market is mainly monopolized by Japanese and Korean manufacturers, and the main manufacturers include JSR, LG Chemistry, CHEIL, TOYO INK, Sumitomo Chemical, Chime, and Mitsubishi Chemical, and seven companies account for more than 90% of the global output; the concentration of the black photoresist industry is higher, and Japan and South Korea are still the main production areas, with the main manufacturers including TOK, CHEIL, Nippon-Telecochemical, Mitsubishi Chemical, and ADEKA, accounting for more than 90% of the global output.
Foreign market conditions: Europe, the United States and Japan have a long monopoly, and the road to domestic substitution has a long way to go
Since the 20th century, photoresist has entered a stage of rapid development. The global output value of photoresist increased from US$5.55 billion in 2010 to about 8.55 billion in 2018, with an annual compound growth rate of about 6%. According to IHS, the future consumption of photoresist will grow at an average annual rate of 5%, and the global photoresist market size can exceed US$10 billion by 2022.
photoresist production capacity is concentrated in Europe, America, Japan and other countries. In 2018, the top five manufacturers accounted for about 87% of the global market. According to SEMI data, Japan's photoresist industry has become a leading position, with the total market share of Japan's JSR, Tokyo Instrument, Japan's Xinyue and Fuji Electronic Materials reaching 72%. Mainland domestic enterprises account for less than 10% of the market share. Photoresist has a relatively average downstream application, with PCB, LCD, semiconductor photoresist and others accounting for almost 25%.
Domestic development trend: high-end research and development is imminent, policy support response
In recent years, the global optoelectronics industry, consumer electronics industry, and semiconductor industry have become more and more obvious. With the rapid development of downstream products such as PCB, LCD, and semiconductor industries, the demand for semiconductors in the domestic market has increased rapidly. Moreover, China's photoresist industry developed and started late, with a relatively single application structure, mainly focusing on mid- and low-end products of PCB photoresist and TN/STN-LCD photoresist. High-end products need to be imported from abroad in large quantities, such as TFT-LCD, semiconductor photoresist, etc.
According to data from the China Industry Information Network, from the perspective of downstream market application structure, the output value of PCB photoresist in my country accounts for 94.4%, while the output value of photoresist for LCD and semiconductors accounts for only 2.7% and 1.6% respectively. In 2015, the market share of the top five foreign-funded manufacturers in China's photoresist industry reached 89.7%. is Taiwan Changxing Chemical, Hitachi Chemical, Japan Asahi Kasei, the United States Dubon and Taiwan Changchun Chemical. In comparison, Chinese companies have less than 10% market share, and mainly includes Jingrui Co., Ltd., Beijing Kehua, Feikai Materials, Guangxin Materials, Rongda Photosensitive, etc.
In order to encourage the development of the photoresist industry and break through the industrial bottleneck, my country has issued a number of policies to support the development of the semiconductor industry, providing a good environmental atmosphere for the development of the photoresist industry.
Investment advice
The increase in manufacturing capacity of domestic wafer factories has driven upstream semiconductor materials demand. semiconductor industry is the foundation of modern information technology, and semiconductor materials, as the direct upstream of the semiconductor industry, have a certain amount of domestic substitution space in the future. In recent years, the construction process of domestic semiconductor wafer fabs has accelerated. After the wafer fab is completed, the demand for semiconductor raw materials in daily operations has increased significantly. The increase in production capacity of wafer manufacturers will drive the continued increase in demand for semiconductor materials. Compared with semiconductor equipment, the periodic fluctuations of semiconductor materials are relatively weak, and the demand for semiconductor materials will be relatively stable after the wafer manufacturer is completed.
The maturity and advanced manufacturing processes of wafer fabs such as SMIC and Huahong Semiconductor have driven the technological progress of upstream semiconductor materials. On August 8, SMIC, the largest wafer foundry in China, released its Q2 quarterly financial report, announcing that the company's 14nm process has entered customer risk mass production. In the second quarter financial report, SMIC FinFET process research and development is continuing to accelerate, and 14nm has entered the stage of customer risk mass production. The first batch of 14nm customers include automotive electronics and other fields. Currently, more than ten customers have adopted SMIC's 14nm process flow sheets. There will be small batches shipped at the end of the year, which will contribute a certain proportion of revenue by then. Large-scale shipments are expected to be in 2021.
We believe that referring to the domestic LED, LCD, and photovoltaic industry chains, with the maturity and stability of a number of industrial giants such as Sanan Optoelectronics, BOE, and Longi Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd. , it will also drive the development and growth of upstream and downstream supporting semiconductor equipment and raw materials. As SMIC's 14nm advanced process matures and stabilizes, it will surely drive the development and growth of upstream supporting semiconductor raw materials.
The Japanese and Korean semiconductor materials incident sounded the alarm for the domestic semiconductor industry chain. The domestic integrated circuit industry will pay more attention to upstream links such as semiconductor equipment and semiconductor materials. According to statistics from the Semiconductor Industry Association, in 2018, the utilization rate of domestic materials in the domestic semiconductor manufacturing process was less than 15%. In the fields of advanced process and advanced packaging, the domestic production rate of semiconductor materials is even lower. The domestic substitution situation of local materials is still severe, and some products are facing serious patent technology blockade. In the future, the domestic semiconductor industry will be replaced by imports and substitution, without independent innovation of semiconductor materials, and the development of the semiconductor industry will be a tower in the air. Without domestic substitution of industrial supporting links including materials and equipment, the development of my country's semiconductor industry will be subject to others.
According to Xinhuanet March 1, 2018, the second phase of the Big Fund plans to raise 150 billion to 200 billion yuan, and the central government, state-owned enterprises and local governments are expected to contribute capital; in the first phase of the Big Fund, investment in manufacturing, design, packaging and testing, and equipment materials account for 63%, 20%, 10%, and 7% of the total investment, respectively. It can be seen that the first phase of the Big Fund is still mainly in the domestic semiconductor manufacturing industry, hoping to drive the development of the entire industrial chain through the development of the semiconductor manufacturing industry.
Considering that semiconductor materials and semiconductor equipment are the upstream of the semiconductor industry chain, it has obvious support for the industry and has equally important strategic significance. The valuation method of semiconductor materials companies can refer to the valuation method of semiconductor equipment companies, mainly including P/S, P/Normalized EPS, EV/EBITDA, etc. P/S is usually used in the early stages of semiconductor materials companies going public. At this time, most companies are in a period of rapid growth, their business has not yet formed a scale, their net profit level fluctuates greatly, and their sales revenue growth trend is relatively stable, which can be used as an anchor for valuation.The cyclical nature of the corporate semiconductor industry can usually be partially corrected with regular profits (Normalized Earnings); while EV/EBITDA can correct the difference in financial leverage. EBITDA takes into account the attributes of heavy assets and high depreciation, and uses EBITDA to roughly simulate cash flow to evaluate the true value of companies with heavy assets and high depreciation.
At present, the domestic companies involved in semiconductor equipment business mainly include:
semiconductor silicon wafers: Shanghai Silicon Industry Group (not listed), Zhonghuan Co., Ltd., Jin Ruihong (not listed), Luoyang SuperSilicon (not listed), etc.;
semiconductor photoresist: Jingrui Co., Ltd., Nanda Optoelectronics, Feikai Materials, Rongda Photosensitive, Beijing Kehua (not listed), etc.; Mask version: Qingyi Optoelectronics (not listed), SMIC, etc.;
Electronic special gas: Nanda Optoelectronics, Hangzhou Oxygen Co., Ltd., Yingde Gas (not listed), Huate Co., Ltd. (not listed), etc.;
Wet chemicals: Shanghai Xinyang, Jingrui Co., Ltd., Juhua Co., Ltd., Jiangyin Runma (not listed), Jianghuawei, etc.;
Polishing pad and polishing liquid: Dinglong Co., Ltd., Anji Microelectronics, etc.; Target materials: Ashichuang, Jiangfeng Electronics, etc.
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(Report source: Huatai Securities)
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