(report producer/author: Caitong Securities, Zhang Yimin)
. etching is a key link in the manufacturing of integrated circuits, and complex processes build industry barriers 1.1. etching is an accurate scalpel for engraving chips.
integrated circuit (integrated cirCuit) uses a variety of processes to interconnect the components and wirings such as transistors, resistors, capacitors, and inductors in a circuit, and make them on a small or several small semiconductor chips or dielectric substrates, and then package them in a tube and shell to realize the required circuit functions. Modern integrated circuits can be divided into four categories: memory, processor, logic IC, and analog IC. The manufacturing process of a complete integrated circuit is usually divided into two parts: Front-End and BackEnd. The traditional packaging (backtrack) test process can be roughly divided into 8 main steps: back thinning, wafer cutting, patching, wire bonding, molding, electroplating, rib molding and final testing. Compared with front-channel wafer manufacturing, rear-channel packaging is relatively simple and requires less process environment, equipment and materials. The complexity of front-channel wafer manufacturing is far beyond that of back-channel packaging, mainly involving lithography, etching, film deposition, development and glue coating, cleaning, doping oxidation and diffusion, measurement and other processes. Among them, etching, together with photolithography and thin film deposition, is one of the three most important processes in wafer manufacturing. The construction of the
integrated circuit is not a simple plan graphic , but a three-dimensional structure superimposed on layers of structures. Among them, the role of etching as one of the core processes is to carve the three-dimensional microstructure required for the integrated circuit on the substrate and other materials on the wafer surface through physical and chemical methods, and transfer the patterns on the front channel mask to the wafer surface. On the newly formed structure of etching, 2. SiN dielectric thin film deposition or metal Al, Cu, W thin film deposition can be performed, or multiple exposure or next etching steps can be performed to finally form the correct pattern on each layer and make appropriate communication between different levels to form a complete integrated circuit.
etching equipment is increasing in importance. This is because the lithography equipment is limited by the light source wavelength (193nm of DUV or 13.5nm of EUV), and the resolution has a certain limit; when the transistor shrinks to a certain size, it is already very difficult to rely solely on the accuracy of the lithography machine to advance the process progress. The industry barriers to the equipment, processes and core components of the etching step are very high. This is mainly because: (1) Etching is a key step in graphic transfer, and the structures that need to be carved are different; (2) The etching step needs to be carried out on different material surfaces, and the process methods involved vary greatly; (3) Etching as the main step takes up a lot of process time and factory space, and its production efficiency and yield have a great impact on the efficiency of the production line; (4) The etching step requires the precise and smooth cooperation of multiple subsystems such as radio frequency sources, gas paths, , electrodes, cold and heat sources, vacuums, etc., which requires a large amount of process data accumulation.
Integrated Circuit The line width of the 2D memory device is close to the physical limit. NAND flash memory has entered the 3D era. Currently, 128-layer 3D NAND flash memory has entered the mass production stage, and flash memory chips above 196 and above 200 layers are gradually increasing. In the 3D NAND manufacturing process, the method of increasing the integration is no longer to reduce the line width of a single layer, but to increase the number of layers stacked. Logic and DRAM integrated circuits have also encountered physical constraints, and the prototype of 3D design has begun to emerge. 3D integrated circuits put higher requirements on etching equipment.
1.2. Evolution of etching method from wet method to dry method
80s After the upgrade of the integrated circuit process and the continuous reduction of the chip structure size, wet etching online wide control, limitations in etching direction gradually emerged and were gradually replaced by dry etching. Wet etching is currently mostly used for back etching, removal of special material layers, and cleaning of residues.
1.2.1. Wet etching technology Application
Wet etching is a relatively original etching technology. The chemical reaction between the solution and the film is used to remove the part of the film that is not covered by the protective mask, thereby achieving the purpose of etching.The reaction product must be a gas or a substance soluble in the etchant, otherwise the reactant precipitation will occur, affecting the normal progress of etching. Generally, materials that use wet etching treatment include silicon, aluminum, silica , etc.
1) Wet etching of silicon
generally uses a strong oxidizing agent to oxidize silicon, and then use hydrofluoric acid to react with silica to remove silicon dioxide to achieve the purpose of etching silicon. The most commonly used etching solvent is a mixture of nitric acid, hydrofluoric acid and water. In addition, etching can also be performed using a solution containing KOH.
2) Wet etching of silica
Wet etching of silica
Hydrofluoric acid (HF) can be used as an etchant, but hydrofluoric acid will be continuously consumed during the reaction, resulting in a gradual decrease in the reaction rate. In order to avoid this phenomenon, ammonium fluoride is usually added to the etching solution as a buffer, and the etching solution formed is called BHF. Ammonium fluoride produces hydrofluoric acid through decomposition reaction, maintaining a constant concentration of hydrofluoric acid.
3) Wet etching of silicon nitride
Silicon nitride is a material with relatively stable chemical properties. Its role in semiconductor manufacturing is mainly used as a cover layer and a protective layer after completing the main process. Wet etching is mostly used to remove the entire layer of silicon nitride. For small-area etching, dry etching is usually chosen.
4) Wet etching of aluminum
In integrated circuits, most electrode leads are made of aluminum or aluminum alloy. There are many methods of aluminum etching, and in the production of commonly used mixed solutions of phosphoric acid , nitric acid , acetic acid and water. The effect of nitric acid is mainly to increase the etching rate, and acetic acid is used to improve etching uniformity.
1.2.2. Application of dry etching technology
With the development of integrated circuits, wet etching has shown the following limitations: the pattern below 3 microns cannot be used; wet etching isotropic, which can easily lead to deformation of the etching pattern; potential toxicity and contamination of liquid chemicals; additional flushing and drying steps are required, etc. The emergence of
dry etching technology solves the problems faced by wet etching. Dry etching uses gas as the main etching material and does not require liquid chemical flushing. Dry etching is mainly divided into three types: plasma etching, ion sputtering etching, and reactive ion etching, which are used in different process steps. 1) Plasma etching is to ionize the etching gas, generate charged ions, molecules, electrons and atomic (molecular) groups with strong chemical activity. Then the atomic (molecular) groups will react with the material to be etched to generate volatile substances, and are evacuated and discharged by the vacuum equipment.
According to the different methods of generating plasma , dry etching is mainly divided into capacitive plasma etching and inductive plasma etching. Capacitive plasma etching mainly processes harder dielectric materials, etching through holes, contact holes, channels and other microstructures with high-deep and aspect ratios. Inductive plasma etching mainly deals with softer and thinner materials. These two etching devices cover major etching applications.
2) Reactive Ion Etching RIE physically bombards the substrate through active ions and performs chemical reactions. It combines sputtering etching and plasma etching, and has the advantages of good anisotropy and selectivity. First bombard the surface of the etched material with ion bombardment, destroy the atomic bonds to enhance the chemical reaction, and then knock out the product deposited on the surface of the etched object.
3) Ion beam sputtering etching is also called ion beam etching or ion milling. Unlike plasma etching systems that rely primarily on chemical reactions, ion beam etching is a physical process. The wafer is placed on the fixer in the vacuum reaction chamber, and an argon gas stream is introduced into the reaction chamber; the argon gas is affected by the high-energy electron beam flow from a pair of anodes, and the argon atoms are ionized, become a positively charged high-energy state, and are sucked towards the fixer. As argon atoms move towards the wafer holder, they accelerate to impact the exposed wafer layer and bombard the wafer surface with a small portion.
1.3. Silicon, metal, media, CCP and ICP, and various etching processes are combined with each other.
Metal etching is mainly used for metal interconnect aluminum alloy etching and making tungsten plugs; dielectric etching is mainly used for making contact holes, through holes, and grooves; silicon etching is mainly used for making gate and device isolation trenches. Dielectric etching is generally a capacitively coupled plasma etching machine; silicon and metal etching is generally an inductively coupled plasma etching machine.
1.3.1. Difference between CCP etching and ICP etching
1) Capacitively Coupled plasma (Capacitively Coupled plasma) Etching
Capacitively Coupled plasma etching (CCP) is generated by adding the radio frequency voltage to two parallel plate electrodes by matching and direct blocking capacitors for discharge. The two electrodes and plasma form an equivalent capacitor. This discharge is maintained by ohmic heating and sheath heating mechanisms. Due to the introduction of the radio frequency voltage, a capacitive sheath will be formed near the two electrodes, and the boundaries of the sheath oscillate rapidly. When the electrons move to the sheath boundary, energy will be obtained by the rapidly moving sheath. Capacitively coupled plasma etching is often used to etch materials with large chemical bond energy such as dielectrics, and the etching rate is slower.
2) Inductively Coupled Plasma ICP (Inductively Coupled Plasma) etching
Inductively Coupled Plasma etching (ICP) is that AC current generates an induced magnetic field through coil , induces magnetic field to generate an induced electric field, and electrons in the reaction chamber accelerate to generate plasma in the induced electric field. The ionization rate generated in this way is high, but the ionic group uniformity is poor. It is often used to etch materials such as silicon and metals with smaller chemical bonds. Inductively coupled plasma etching equipment can achieve independent control of the electric field in the horizontal and vertical directions, and can achieve true De-couple, independently control the plasma density and bombardment energy.
1.3.2. single crystal silicon etch
single crystal silicon etch is used to form shallow trenches (STI), capacitor deep trenches. Single crystal silicon etching includes two processes: a breakthrough process and a main etching process. The breakthrough process uses SiF4 and NF gas to remove the oxide layer on the surface of single crystal silicon through strong ion bombardment and fluorine chemistry; the main etching generally uses hydrogen bromide (HBr) as the main etching agent, and hydrogen bromide separates bromine radicals in the plasma. These free radicals react with silicon to form volatile silicon tetrabromide (SiBr4). Single crystal silicon etching usually uses an etching machine with inductively coupled plasma etching.
1.3.3. polysilicon etching
polysilicon etching is one of the most important etching processes because it determines the gate of the transistor, and the control of the gate size largely determines the performance of the integrated circuit. There should be a good choice for etching of polysilicon. Halogen gas is usually used, and chlorine gas can achieve anisotropic etching and has a good selection ratio (can reach 10:1); bromine-based gas can obtain a selection ratio of 100:1; a mixture of HBr and chlorine gas, and oxygen can increase the etching rate. Moreover, the reaction product of halogen gas and silicon is deposited on the side wall, which can play a protective role. Polysilicon etching usually uses an etching machine with inductively coupled plasma etching.
1.3.4. Metal etching
Metal etching is mainly etching of interconnect lines and multi-layer metal wiring. The requirements for etching are: high etching rate (greater than 1000nm/min); high selection ratio, greater than 4:1 for the masking layer, greater than 20:1 for the interlayer medium; high etching uniformity; good control of key size; no plasma damage; few residual pollutants; no corrosion of metals, etc. Metal etching usually uses an etching machine with inductively coupled plasma etching.
1) etching of aluminum
Aluminum is the most important wire material in semiconductor preparation, with the advantages of low resistance and easy deposition and etching. The etching of aluminum is done using plasma generated by chloride gas. The reaction between aluminum and chlorine produces volatile aluminum trichloride (AlCl3), which is drained as the gas in the cavity is drained.Generally, the etching temperature of aluminum is slightly higher than room temperature (for example, 70°C), and AlCl3 has better volatile properties, which can reduce residues. In addition to chlorine, aluminum etching often adds halides, such as SiCl4, BCl3, BBr3, CCl4, CHF3, etc., mainly to remove the oxide layer on the aluminum surface and ensure the normal etching.
2) Tungsten etching
In a multi-layer metal structure, tungsten is the main metal used for pore filling, and others include titanium, molybdenum, etc. Fluorine-based or chlorine-based gas can be used to etch metal tungsten , but fluorine-based gas (SiF6, CF4) has poor choices for silicon oxide, while chlorine-based gas (CCl4) has a good choice ratio. Usually, nitrogen is added to the reaction gas to obtain a high etching glue selection ratio and oxygen is added to reduce carbon deposition. Implanting of tungsten with chlorine-based gas can achieve anisotropic etching and high selection ratios. The gases used for dry etching of tungsten are mainly SF6, Ar and O2, where SF6 can be decomposed in plasma to provide fluorine atoms and tungsten to undergo chemical reaction to produce fluoride .
3) Titanium nitride etching
Titanium nitride hard mask replaces traditional silicon nitride or oxide masks and is used in the double Damascus etching process. The selection ratio between the traditional mask and the low k dielectric layer is not high, which will lead to arc-shaped contours on the top of the low k dielectric layer and the width of the trench after the etching is completed. The spacing between the metal lines formed by deposition is too small, making it easy to cause bridge leakage or direct breakdown. Titanium nitride etching is usually used in the process of hard mask opening, and the main reaction product is TiCl4.
1.3.5. Dielectric etching
Dielectric etching uses dielectrics such as silicon dioxide and silicon nitride as the main etching objects, and is widely used in chip manufacturing. Dielectric etching is mainly used to form contact holes and channel holes to connect different circuit levels. In addition, the process steps for dielectric etching cover include hard shielding layer etching and welding pad etching (partial). Dielectric etching usually uses the principle of capacitively coupled plasma etching.
1) Plasma etching of silica film
etching of silica film usually uses etching gases containing fluorinated carbon, such as CF4, CHF3, C2F6, SF6 and C3F8. The carbon contained in the etching gas can produce by-products CO and CO2 with the oxygen in the oxide layer, thereby removing oxygen in the oxide layer. CF4 is the most commonly used etching gas. When CF4 collides with high-energy electrons, various ions will be generated, atomic groups , atoms and free base . Fluorofree groups can chemically react with SiO2 and Si to produce volatile silicon tetrafluoride (SiF4).
2) Plasma etching of silicon nitride film
The etching of silicon nitride film can be performed using CF4 or CF4 mixed gas (adding O2, SF6 and NF3). When etching with CF4-O2 plasma or other gas plasma containing F atoms for Si3N4 film, the etching rate of silicon nitride can reach 1200Å/min, and the etching selection ratio can be as high as 20:1. The main product is silicon tetrafluoride (SiF4) that is volatile and conveniently extracted.
1.4. The etching process indicators are complex and difficult, and the industry is high barriers.
etching is the most important integrated circuit manufacturing step outside lithography. There are many key process indicators, which have a great impact on the chip yield rate and production capacity . If an etching device wants to achieve relevant process indicators, it needs long-term experiments and running films to accumulate experience and knowledge, and continuously debug the corresponding parameter settings of each subsystem of the equipment. Therefore, there are high barriers in the etching equipment industry. 1) The etching rate is the speed at which the surface material of the silicon wafer is removed during the etching process. In order to increase the yield in actual production, it is necessary to increase the etching rate. It is a very important parameter in equipment that adopts a monolithic process. 2) The etching profile refers to the sidewall shape of the etched pattern. There are two basic etching profiles, namely isotropic and anisotropic. The isotropic etch profile is etched at the same etch rate in all directions (transverse and longitudinal). 3) Etching deviation Etching deviation refers to the change in line width or key dimensions after etching.
4) Selection ratio Selection ratio refers to the ratio of the etching rate of two different materials under the same etching condition. The etching process with a high selection ratio will not etch the material of its next layer, and will not etch the photoresist that plays a protective role. In state-of-the-art processes, a high selection ratio is necessary to ensure critical dimensions and profile structures. The smaller the size, the higher the requirement for selection ratio. As shown in the figure below, SiO2 is the material that wants to etch, and photoresist is to avoid etching substances. High selection ratio means etching as much SiO2 as possible and as few photoresist as possible.
5) Uniformity is a parameter that measures the etching capability of the etching process on a single silicon wafer, or between different silicon wafers. Uniformity is closely related to the selection ratio, because non-uniformity etching can produce additional overetching. Etching rate: Slower in small window patterns, and even on small-size patterns with high aspect ratios, etching stops completely, a phenomenon known as aspect ratio-dependent etching (ARDE), also known as microloading effect. In order to improve uniformity, the ARDE effect on the surface of the silicon wafer must be minimized.
Other indicators: residues, polymers, plasma-induced damage, particle contamination, reaction chamber start time, etc., are also key technical parameters that etching equipment needs to meet in actual production.
. Expansion of production and superimposed technology iteration, the sales share of etching equipment has doubled up 2.1. Global expansion of production has driven the demand for equipment, and the etching equipment market will reach US$24.2 billion
Integrated circuit manufacturing requires a wide variety of semiconductor equipment, and etching machines are one of the core equipment. Since 2020, due to the increase in demand for electronic products caused by the epidemic, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles , and panic hoarding events, the global semiconductor market has entered a prosperous cycle. According to IC Insights, the global semiconductor market size is expected to grow from US$492.6 billion to US$654.8 billion from 2020 to 2022. Driven by the surge in demand for semiconductor products, fabs are actively expanding their production capacity, with capital expenditures from 2020 to 2022 being US$113.1 billion, US$153.1 billion and US$185.4 billion (estimated). Equipment procurement expenditures account for the vast majority of fab capital expenditures. The strong downstream demand has greatly increased the market size of semiconductor equipment such as etching equipment.
2.2. 5nm logic chip manufacturing etching step climbed to 160 times
Driven by Moore's law , the transistor integration degree has been greatly improved, and the corresponding integrated circuit line width has been continuously reduced, which directly leads to the increasingly complex integrated circuit manufacturing process. According to SEMI statistics, the 20-nanometer process requires approximately 1,000 processes, while the 10-nanometer process and 7-nanometer process require more than 1,400 processes. Especially when the line width is upgraded to 10, 7, 5 nm or even smaller, multiple template processes are required to repeat multiple film deposition and etching processes to achieve a smaller line width, which significantly increases the number of etching times. According to SEMI statistics, the 20-nanometer process requires about 50 etching steps, while the 10-nanometer process and 7-nanometer process require more than 100 etching steps. The significant increase in the number of etching steps in the logic process means that the market demand for etching equipment continues to grow.
In the front-section process (FEOL) of the logic circuit, the etching steps involved include isolation groove etching, side wall etching, polysilicon gate etching, etc.; in the back-section process (BEOL), it mainly involves through-hole etching, trench etching, metal wire etching and other processes. Logic chips involve etching of a variety of materials, including: single crystal silicon etching is used to form shallow trench isolation, polycrystalline silicon etching is used for gate and local connections, and dielectric etching is mainly used for contact hole etching, through hole etching, trench etching, and side wall etching.
polysilicon gate manufacturing is a core step in the production of integrated circuits and requires high etching. Therefore, the equipment is required to have the characteristics of high selection ratio, high anisotropy and high control accuracy. In addition, since the polysilicon gate and shallow trough isolation are extremely small in size, the accuracy requirements are extremely high, and the selection ratio must reach about 150:1. At the same time, small sizes lead to an increase in the aspect ratio. The aspect ratio of silicon etching below 14nm will reach about 30:1 or above, which will increase the difficulty of etching.The adoption of the new FinFET architecture has also enhanced the importance of etching. FinFET is called a fin field effect transistor, in which the gate is designed in a fork-shaped 3D structure similar to fish fins. It has many advantages over planar structures: (1) better channel control capability; (2) lower leakage current; (3) lower threshold voltage; (4) significantly reduce the gate length.
In 2D construction MOSFET, the "gate length" is about 10nm, which is the smallest and most difficult to make in the left and right structures. When the gate length shrinks below 20nm, a "short channel effect" will occur: the distance between the source and drain is too close, and the oxide layer below the gate becomes thinner and thinner, and electrons may experience "leakage". After the FinFET structure replaced the old MOSFET, it successfully solved this problem with its own excellent characteristics. Since 2013, has gradually become the mainstream of in the market. The etching steps and difficulty of the
FinFET structure have increased compared to traditional structures. For the manufacturing of the upper interconnect layer of FinFET, as the circuit density increases, the interconnect structure becomes increasingly complex, and the etching steps are added; at the same time, the losses caused by complex interconnect layers are gradually increasing, and higher requirements are placed on the process yield of the etching equipment.
The number of repetitions of multiple graphics and multiple exposures is generally 2-4 times. Take the most basic double exposure and double graphics as an example to illustrate: Double exposure technology (LELE) is a photolithography-etching-lithography-etching process on the same wafer in sequence, in order, to double the pattern density. The main steps are: lithography 1: expose the first layer of the pattern on the mask plate. Etching 1: Etch the first layer of pattern onto the mask plate. Lithography 2: Exposure the second layer of graphics and double the pattern density. Etching 2: Engrave the final double density pattern onto the silicon wafer. It turns out that a layer of lithographic graphics is split on two or more masks, realizing the superposition of image density. Self-aligned multiple graphing (SADP) is a dual graphing process that replaces the traditional LELE method. The dual patterning technical solution of the side wall self-alignment process is: that is, axial pattern is formed through a single photolithography and etching process, and then a side wall pattern is formed through atomic layer deposition and etching process on the side wall, removing the axial layer (i.e., the sacrificial layer), forming a side wall hard mask pattern with half of the pattern size.
SADP technology increases the number of etching times and difficulty, and promotes the development of etching equipment. On the one hand, since the SADP process involves etching of multi-layer masks, multiple etching lines need to be matched, increasing the number of etching times. On the other hand, the main difficulty of this technology is: (1) Selection ratio problem: The SADP technology with an increased number of repetitions will require more layers of side walls and masks, making the etching process more complex; in order to ensure the accuracy of pattern transfer, there are higher requirements for different levels of substances, spacers, lower materials, etc. (2) Control of side wall morphology: Side wall morphology is the key mask for pattern transfer, and the etching difficulty also increases with the increase of the number of side wall layers.
2.3. Memory manufacturing depends on etching equipment. Deepening the development of integrated circuits. In addition to continuously reducing the line width, its device structure has also become more complex and gradually developing towards multi-layering. For example, memory DRAM mainly moves towards reducing the size and introduces 3D structures such as concave gates and buried word lines. NAND flash memory has fully entered the 3D era. By increasing the number of stacked layers, the hierarchy of 3D NAND has also developed from 64 layers to 128 layers to 192 layers and above 200 layers.
2.3.1. DRAM structure miniaturization and multilayering are used to combine
DRAM memory core structure, which can be divided into two parts: deep tank capacitor and transistor. The micro-indentation progress of DRAM transistors is mostly similar to that of logic processes. The gradual deepening of self-aligned multiple graphics and multiple exposure dependence is required, and more advanced etching machine equipment is needed; while the etching of capacitor tanks is the main technical difficulty in the DRAM iteration process. According to the location of the capacitor slot, DRAM can be divided into trench DRAM and stacked DRAM. 1) Trench DRAM: First etch out the capacitor trench on silicon, then deposit a dielectric layer in the trench to form a capacitor, and the gate is above the capacitor. DRAM of this construction is currently used in fewer fields.2) Stacked DRAM: The memory cells are formed on the gate and are mainly used to manufacture independent high-density DRAM. The etching of capacitive structures mainly relies on dielectric etching machines and single crystal silicon etching machines with high depth and aspect ratio functions. Currently, most DRAMs use stacked structures. The accuracy of etching of
capacitor tank is directly related to the subsequent dielectric material deposition process. As the DRAM process develops from 2Y to 1X,1Y,1Z, the width occupied by each DRAM unit continues to shrink, and the depth and width ratio of the capacitor slots inside continues to increase; the etching of the capacitor slots with high-deep and aspect ratio is high, and the formation rate is slow, and the number of etching equipment required continues to increase.
In addition to miniaturization, DRAM also adopts new technologies including embedded word lines and concave gates to further reduce the volume occupied by unit memory cells, which puts forward new requirements for etching equipment. The main structures of embedded word lines and concave gates are distributed on a single crystal silicon substrate; the single crystal silicon etching process required to engrave them requires better control of key size, depth and profile; and almost the same etch rate for single crystal silicon and STI position silicon oxide is also required.
2.3.2. NAND The cost of manufacturing etching equipment far exceeds that of lithography
NAND The main development of memory is multi-layer 3D. This is because after the circuit line width is reduced to a certain level, the leakage phenomenon is serious; for non-volatile memory NAND, this leakage is unacceptable. The core structure of 3D NAND includes a channel hole, a contact hole, a staircase of each layer, a slit on the side, etc. As the number of stacked layers increases, the number of microstructures above continues to increase, and the technical difficulty faced by etching continues to increase. Compared with DRAM memory, 3D NAND involves more hole etching process steps and is more difficult to etch, so a large number of more advanced etching equipment is required. In addition, the formation of step structures and slit structures in 3D NAND also requires a large number of advanced etching equipment.
3D NAND's large demand for etching equipment has significantly increased the proportion of etching equipment's expenditure in the capital expenditure required for the expansion of NAND memory. According to Tokyo Electronics, the expenditure of etching equipment has increased from less than 15% of 2D memory to more than 50% of 3D memory. We expect that as 3D NAND reaches stacking over 200 layers, the proportion of capital expenditure of etching equipment will increase.
According to statistics from Tokyo Electronics, from 2015 to 2019, as the flash memory structure gradually transitions from 2D to 3D, the proportion of etching equipment required for NAND manufacturing accounts for the entire semiconductor industry continues to increase. As of 2019, the scale of etching equipment used in NAND manufacturing has exceeded DRAM and logic. As the structure of 3D NAND continues to move towards a higher level, coupled with the demand for massive data storage in the whole society, we expect that the proportion of NAND etching equipment in the entire semiconductor manufacturing industry will further increase.
. The types of etching equipment are complex, and the United States, Japan and Europe control high-value components According to the data released by the China Micro Company 2021 annual report, the gross profit margin of etching equipment reached 44.32%. Among the costs of semiconductor equipment products, direct material accounts for 88.38%; the latest quarter gross profit margin of Fanlin Group, which focuses on etching machines, is 46%. Based on the above data, taking the gross profit margin of 45%, it can be calculated that the global etching equipment parts market size is 241.8 (etching equipment sales amount) *45% *88.38%, about US$9.6 billion.
3.1. Main structure of etching equipment
The structure of mainstream etching equipment can be divided into two parts: main body and auxiliary equipment. The main body of the etching device includes three major modules: EFEM (device front end), TM (transmission module), PM (process module), and three major modules. The EFEM module is mainly responsible for loading wafers from various handling equipment in the semiconductor factory (including wafer loading vehicles, handling robots, and trolleys) into etching equipment; the TM module is mainly responsible for the transmission of wafers within the etching equipment; PM is a module that actually performs etching of wafers and causes related physical and chemical reactions. The function of the auxiliary equipment is to provide guarantee support for the above three modules, and the layout is relatively independent of the main body of the machine.
As the production capacity demand for a single etching equipment increases, the number of reaction chambers of a single etching machine has shown a trend from few to many. Taking Tokyo Electronics' etching machine changes as an example, Tokyo Electronics launched the Unity series of machines with a platform with multiple reaction chambers for the first time in the 1990s, the world's first machine with parallel chamber structure, Telius, and in the 2010s, it successively launched the Tactras machine with 6/8 chambers. The latest Episode series machines launched by Tokyo Electronics can carry up to 12 cavityes, greatly improving the space utilization efficiency of etching equipment and leaving more room for production expansion for fabs.
etching equipment that mounts multiple etching reaction chambers is crucial to improving the production capacity of the wafer factory; because the more chambers in a single machine, the less space a single chamber takes up on average. Maintenance of wafer cleaning plant purified plants requires a large amount of costs, reducing the space occupied by a single equipment can effectively improve the wafer production capacity of the purification plant per unit area, and reduce the depreciation and maintenance costs of the factory allocated to a single wafer. The reaction rate is slow, and the wafer output per unit time is lower, that is, etching equipment (mainly dielectric etching equipment), which prefers to adopt super multi-cavity structures. However, as the number of PM chambers increases, new requirements will be put forward for the load-transport process of the EFEM front-end module and TM transport module.
3.2. Front-end module (EFEM) and transmission module (TM)
etching equipment combine to form a functional structure for transferring wafers from various external handling equipment (including wafer loading vehicles, handling robots, and sky trucks) to the process module for etching processing. The front-end module mainly includes four parts: a wafer loading box (casstte) wafer calibrator (aligner), atmospheric robot (ATM robot), wafer load port (loadport), and other four parts; the transmission module mainly includes three main components: a pre-vacuum transmission body (loadlock), a transmission platform body and a vacuum instrument hand. The equipment front-end market is mainly occupied by Brooks, Genmark, Kensington, and Rorze, Japan.
3.2.1. Cassette and front-open wafer box
wafer manufacturing involve many procedures and steps, and wafers will need to be placed in different external environments and equipment due to these procedures or steps. Therefore, during the wafer manufacturing process, the wafer will be continuously transported from one place to another, and sometimes it must be temporarily stored for a period of time to cooperate with the necessary manufacturing process. In the front-end module of the etching device, the crystal boat and the front-open wafer box form a wafer temporary storage module, and at the same time has storage and transportation functions, playing a very important role in the wafer manufacturing process. The external front-opening wafer box (foup) can protect, transport, and store 12-inch or 8-inch wafers, preventing damage to the wafer during handling, while reducing the exposure between process steps to the external environment to contaminate the wafer, thereby improving yield and production capacity. During use, the wafer box is usually filled with protective gas. A cassette, also known as a wafer flower basket, is a special rack-shaped vehicle that carries wafers in a wafer box. During the loading process, the wafer is usually placed into the rack piece by piece, and then the entire rack is placed in the crystal box. This rack is called the Cial Boat Cassette.
In semiconductor devices including etching devices, most wafers are placed horizontally in wafer boxes and wafer boats. In addition, wafer boxes and wafer boats also need to have anti-static damage functions. Their materials and designs are both wear-resistant, low pollution, good airtightness, and temperature resistance (partial high-temperature processes). Normally, the design parameters of wafer boxes and boats need to comply with SEMI standards to ensure that they can be transported smoothly in equipment from different manufacturers. But in fact, some special equipment uses special crystal boats, so the wafer must be transferred from the general crystal boat to the special crystal boat and then into the special equipment.
3.2.2. Wafer loading port (Loadport)
Wafer loading port is a mechanical device installed in the front-end module and responsible for receiving wafer boxes delivered by the wafer handling equipment. Its main functions include loading, unloading, and fixing the wafer box; opening or closing the door on the wafer box.The wafer loading port is the channel for wafers to enter and exit the front-end module, and is also the interactive port between semiconductor equipment and production lines. It is very important for the automated operation of wafer factories. The wafer loading port has applicable jam specifications, placement standards, opening methods, platform height standards and communication protocols, etc., all of which need to meet the SEMI standards. At the same time, the wafer loading port usually has RFID reading function to identify the batch and number of wafer boxes. Similar to other modules, the wafer loading port also needs to have high cleanliness characteristics to prevent the wafer from being contaminated by the external environment.
3.2.3. Wafer calibrator (aligner)
As the integrated circuit process advances, wafer positioning and attitude adjustment are required before almost every process. The crystal calibrator is responsible for pre-aligning the wafer, which is an important step in positioning adjustment. The alignment time of the wafer calibrator has a great impact on the wafer transfer speed of the wafer in the front-end module. The main method of pre-alignment of
wafers is mainly to use edge detection sensors (laser sensors or image sensors) to cooperate with the turntable to calculate the eccentric position of the wafer and locate the gaps on the edge of the wafer. Then, use the mechanical motion platform to correct the wafer position to prepare for the next step of wafer transmission.
3.2.4. Vacuum robot and atmospheric robot
Atmospheric robot are core components in EFEM and are responsible for the wafer pick-up and placement of the atmospheric environment (EFEM, inflatable lockport); vacuum robot is responsible for the wafer pick-up and placement of the wafer in the vacuum environment (reaction chamber, vacuum transmission chamber, vacuum lockport). Both vacuum and atmospheric robots need to have anti-collision protection functions. In addition, to prevent wafer destruction or wafer stress deformation, the accuracy, clamping force, balance and stability of the vacuum robot are also very important.
3.2.5. The pre-vacuum transmission body (Loadlock) and the main body of the transmission platform
Pre-vacuum transmission body are the transit chambers of the atmosphere and vacuum, which are used to isolate the reaction chamber from the direct contact between the external atmosphere, so as to ensure the cleanliness of the reaction chamber and reduce the probability of the reaction chamber being contaminated. The pre-vacuum transmission body needs to be switched frequently in the atmosphere and vacuum states. When the front-end module needs to pick up and place the wafer into the pre-vacuum transmission body, nitrogen needs to be filled, the air pressure in the cavity is adjusted to the atmospheric state, and then the transmission valve of the pre-vacuum transmission body on the front-end module side is opened to pick up and release the wafer; when the wafer is taken from the transmission cavity (part of the transmission platform) to the pre-vacuum transmission body, a vacuum pump needs to be used to extract the gas from the pre-vacuum transmission body, and adjust it to the vacuum state, then the transmission valve on the other side of the pre-vacuum transmission body is opened, and then the wafer is picked up and released.
The specific steps for the transmission of wafers in the chip transfer system are: close all doors → open the door of the wafer box → atmospheric robot grabs the wafer from the wafer boat of the wafer box → place the wafer on the aligner → calibrate the crystal position → LoadLockA fills nitrogen → open the door of LoadLockA → atmospheric robot puts the wafer into LoadLockA → close the door of LoadLockA → LoadLockA → vacuum → open the door of the reaction chamber → vacuum robot puts the wafer into the reaction chamber → after the reaction occurs → vacuum chamber → open the door of the transmission chamber → vacuum robot moves the wafer to the transmission chamber → close the door of the reaction chamber → open the door of the LoadLockB → vacuum robot moves the wafer to the LoadLockB → vacuum robot moves the wafer to the LoadLockB → close the door of the vacuum robot moves the wafer to the LoadLockB → close the vacuum robot moves the wafer to the LoadLockB → LoadLockB door → LoadLockB fills nitrogen → Open LoadLockB door → Atmospheric robot moves the wafer out of LoadLockB → Close LoadLockB door
3.3. The process module of the etching device (PM)
process module is the core module of the etching device and is the component that actually occurs. According to functional categories, the process modules of the etching equipment can be mainly divided into: reaction chamber system, radio frequency system, electrostatic chuck and electrode system, vacuum pressure system, gas circuit system, end point detection system and other main parts.
3.3.1. The reaction chamber chamber of the reaction chamber system
etching equipment is generally made of precision-processed aluminum metal. Since the chamber itself needs to withstand a physical and chemical environment with complex and violent etching reactions during the reaction process, the cavity needs to adopt a variety of anti-corrosion technologies.Typically, the surface of the reaction cavity is coated with a dense coating to resist ionic shock and highly chemically active gas corrosion. Common coatings include yttrium oxide and alumina. Room aluminum parts that have undergone special coating treatment are called coating parts. The more important coating components in the chamber include linings, inner doors, adjustment brackets, etc. Currently, a large proportion of them are dependent on imports in China. Japan KOGA, Taiwan Jingding Precision, the United States Super Colin Company is the main source of overseas import of cavity processing parts.
3.3.2. RF system
RF system usually consists of two parts: RF power supply (RF Generator) and matcher (RF Match). It is one of the core systems of etching equipment. At present, the market in this field is mainly occupied by American companies such as UYI Semiconductor (AE), Wanji Instruments (MKS), and Comméd. A radio frequency power supply is a power supply that can generate a sine wave voltage of a fixed frequency and has a high power. After the etching gas (mainly CF4) passes into the reaction chamber through the gas circuit system, it is ionized by the high-frequency electric field (usually 13.56MHz) generated by the radio frequency power supply to generate glow discharge, completing the transformation from gas molecules to ions, forming plasma (Plasma), and improving gas reactivity. The radio frequency power supply is directly related to the plasma concentration, uniformity and stability in the reaction chamber. In most etching devices, RF power supplies are used in conjunction with DC power supplies to control the density and energy magnitude of the ions respectively. Due to the acceleration effect of the electric field, ions usually etch the wafer in both physical and chemical forms. In addition, the RF system is also an important part of thin film deposition equipment, demolder, ion implanter and cleaning equipment.
Commonly used RF system configurations for etching equipment are combined into fixed frequency RF power supplies and adjustable matchers. During the etching process, the matcher will automatically adjust the internal adjustable capacitors, so that the output impedance of the power supply itself and the reaction load impedance are matched to achieve the full power output of the RF power supply. In an ideal matching state, all RF signals are allowed to be transmitted to the load position and the reflected power of their energy is reduced. When the load impedance and the impedance of the RF power output are not in a matching state, a small number of input signals will be reflected back to the RF source at the load end, and the output power of the RF power supply is not fully used, which reduces the efficiency of the etching reaction.
3.3.3. Electrostatic chuck and electrode system
With the continuous development of integrated circuit manufacturing technology, major semiconductor equipment manufacturers have gradually abandoned mechanical chucks and vacuum chucks and instead adopted electrostatic chuck technology. Compared to traditional chucks, electrostatic chucks are usually made of aluminum nitride or aluminum oxide. The electrostatic chuck has strong uniformity in clamping the wafer, reducing wear on the edges of the wafer.
There is a helium (He) cooling channel on the back of the electrostatic chuck. The cold pump under the electrostatic chuck drives the helium coolant in the cooling channel, and cooperates with the cooler belonging to the auxiliary equipment to control the wafer temperature to avoid overheating and damage to the reaction chamber. New electrostatic chucks generally use multi-zone heat dissipation and temperature control technology to ensure uniform and stable temperature during the etching process, reducing the impact of temperature on the uniformity of etching rate. The main manufacturer of cold pumps is Sumitomo Japan.
3.3.4. The reaction chamber of the vacuum pressure system
etching equipment needs to be in a highly vacuum state during the reaction process, and the working pressure is generally between 1/100 torr and 1/1000 torr. The vacuum pressure system is responsible for maintaining this highly vacuum environment and is mainly composed of dry pumps, molecular pumps, vacuum gauges, vacuum valves, etc.
dry pump vacuuming usually reaches a vacuum degree of 100 mTorr, while molecular pumps can reach a vacuum degree of 0.1 mTorr. The two pumps are usually used in combination, with the dry pump being responsible for initially vacuuming the cavity, while the molecular pump being responsible for pumping the cavity to a high vacuum state. Partial etching processes, such as atomic layer etching, require the reaction of multiple etching gases in a short time. This puts high requirements on the speed of vacuum extraction of molecular pumps. The pumping speed of the new molecular pump has also increased from 300-2200L/sec to 1600-2500L/sec. The market for dry pumps and molecular pumps is mainly occupied by companies such as Edwards in the UK, Pfeiffer Vacuum in Germany, Shimadzu in Japan.
vacuum degree measurement is mainly done by vacuum gauge. The vacuum gauge requires high accuracy and good stability. Semiconductor equipment usually uses thin-film capacitor vacuum gauge with high reliability and accuracy, with three ranges: 100mT, 1T and 10T. 100mT vacuum gauge is mostly used for metal and silicon etching, while 1T vacuum gauge is mostly used for dielectric etching.
3.3.5. The gas circuit system
etching step requires the use of multiple etching gases, which are also called process media during the reaction process. The gas circuit system of the etching equipment is responsible for the transportation of process media from the gas source to the inside of the reaction chamber, mainly composed of gas circuit box (Gasbox), gas uniform disk (Gaspanel), flowmeter (MFC), and pipelines. The function of the gas circuit box is to adjust the pressure of gas process medium from the gas source (special gas cylinder or wafer factory gas circuit pipeline) through a variety of control valves, and then introduce it into the gas circuit pipeline of the etching equipment. Since most of the gases used in integrated circuit manufacturing are dangerous, in order to ensure safety, the cabinet of the gas circuit box usually uses an anti-corrosion coating, an external observation window is set up, and the interior is also in a negative pressure state. In addition, the gas circuit box is equipped with a variety of monitoring systems. Once a gas leakage is monitored, the gas delivery will be cut off and the alarm will be alerted. Gaspanel is one of the core components of the gas circuit system and is also a semiconductor metal component with high processing difficulty. The uniform gas disk is usually composed of four layers of metal disks superimposed, each of which has many small holes and complex and tiny gas pathways. After the etching gas is adjusted by the gas circuit box, it enters the pipeline, and then passes through the uniform gas disk, and is finally transported to the reaction chamber at a stable and uniform speed. The uniform gas disc must have the characteristics of high temperature resistance, low particle pollution and corrosion resistance. Special welding methods must be used between multi-layer metal discs to prevent internal leakage. Since uniform gas discs are related to the core intake steps of etching, some equipment companies choose to cooperate with precision metal processing companies to develop uniform gas discs; in addition, Japanese Fujijin valves are also an important uniform gas disc manufacturer.
etching equipment monitors and controls the rate at which the etching gas enters the reaction chamber through a mass flow meter (MFC). Because the intake rate is related to the stability of the etching reaction, the etching equipment has high requirements for the flow range, control accuracy, and flow stability response time of the mass flowmeter. Flow meters can be divided into analog circuit types, digital circuit types and pressure change compensation types. The pressure change compensation flow meter can automatically compensate for fluctuations in the pressure of the gas source to ensure the stable gas flow output to the reaction chamber. The main manufacturer of mass flow meter is Horiba, Japan.
3.3.6. Endpoint detection system
endpoint detection system is widely used in etching equipment to ensure that the etching depth and time meet process requirements. The etching reaction will also cause certain losses to substances that do not require etching (lower film, mask, etc.). During the reaction, when the layer of substance that needs to be removed by etching is completely peeled off, the etching device will continue to remove the next level of substance at a slower rate, resulting in overetching. There are generally two ways to determine whether the etching should be completed through spectrum: one is to detect whether the concentration of chemical gases participating in the reaction suddenly increases, and the other is to detect whether the concentration of the reaction product suddenly drops. According to the range of detected wavelengths, the device can be divided into two types: a single wavelength (High Optical Throughput) and a Monochromator (Monochromator). The former can only pass through light of a specific wavelength, and the latter can control the angle of the spectrometer through a motor to separate the light of the required wavelength.
3.4. Attachment equipment
Attachment equipment mainly includes exhaust gas treatment system (scubber), external cooling machine (chiller), power cabinet, etc. Among them, the exhaust gas treatment system is responsible for treating the exhaust gas extracted from the reaction chamber after the etching reaction is completed. The external cooler is connected to the internal cooling components such as the cold pump under the electrostatic chuck to form the reaction chamber heat dissipation system of the etching equipment. The power cabinet is responsible for providing power to the etching equipment.
. Market status4.1. The three overseas giants each have their own expertise and occupy most of the etching equipment markets
Domestic etching equipment companies started late, and most of the global markets are currently occupied by overseas giants; the international etching equipment market is showing a highly monopoly pattern, Panlin Group, Tokyo Electronics, and applied materials are the top 3 industries, accounting for nearly 90% of the market share in 2020. Among the three giants, Panlin Group has been deeply engaged in the etching field for many years, with the strongest technical strength and the highest market share. Its products cover almost all process types. China's domestic companies, China Micro Corporation, Northern Huachuang and Yitang Semiconductor, account for a total of 2.36% of the market share, which is less than the fourth-ranked Hitachi Hi-Tech or the fifth-ranked South Korea Meimei, and has broad room for growth.
4.1.1. Panlin Group (LAM)
Panlin Group (LAM Research) was established in 1980 and is the global leader in etching technology. In 2021, the company's revenue was US$14.626 billion, a year-on-year increase of 45.61%. Panlin Group's extremely high aspect ratio dielectric etching equipment plays very important role in NAND production; currently Panlin Group has a nearly 100% monopoly on this type of equipment.
4.1.2. Tokyo Electronics (TEL)
Tokyo Electronics (TEL) was founded in 1963 and is headquartered in Japan. In 2021, the company's revenue was US$14.923 billion, a year-on-year increase of 22.6%. Its etching equipment dominates the Damascus integrated etching process in logic chip production and the step etching process in the 3D NAND manufacturing process; in addition, its high-deep aspect ratio etching equipment also occupies an important position in 3D NAND and DRAM manufacturing.
4.1.3. Applied Materials (AMAT)
Applied Materials was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in the United States. Revenue in 2021 was US$23.059 billion, a year-on-year increase of 34.06%. Applied Materials is the world's largest semiconductor equipment manufacturer, but its etching equipment market position is weak. The 12-inch main equipment for applied materials is the Producer Etch series machines, which are used for back etching, Pad etching and other processes. Applied materials are weaker in the field of etching machines than Panlin Group and Tokyo Electronics; for some of their products, domestic etching equipment has strong replacement capabilities.
4.2. Domestic production expansion focuses on the expansion of domestic etching equipment. Historic opportunities for domestic etching equipment
Based on the known domestic wafer fab expansion plans and progress, we believe that etching equipment and the upstream parts industry chain are relatively excellent investment tracks. The domestic tendency to expand production of mature processes and memory is one of the main reasons why we make this judgment. At the same time, overseas trade restrictions have increased the urgency of domestic wafer factories to achieve domestic production of equipment.
semiconductor equipment has the highest value of lithography, etching and thin film deposition. According to SEMI statistics, in the wafer manufacturing equipment market with a total amount of US$87.5 billion, lithography, etching, and thin film deposition account for 24%, 20%, and 20% respectively. Since domestic wafer manufacturing companies in China are unable to successfully purchase the latest extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines, it faces great difficulties in advancing the logic process to the 7-nanometer level or more advanced level, the expansion of domestic logic process mainly revolves around mature processes of about 28-nanometers. Compared with advanced processes, domestic etching equipment companies have sufficient technical accumulation and process experience in mature processes, and can complete a larger domestic substitution and have a larger potential market share. In terms of long-term prospects and advanced processes, the lack of extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment means that domestic wafer factories need to expand the 14-nanometer to 7-nanometer production capacity based on multiple exposure technology or self-aligned multiple graphics technology. Multiple exposure technology requires frequent precise etching of mask plates, while self-aligning multiple patterns involve etching and forming of side walls. Advanced wafer production capacity using the above two technical routes will have additional procurement needs for etching equipment. The supply risks of overseas equipment have also led to domestic wafer fabs relying more on domestic etching equipment, providing sufficient opportunities for domestic etching equipment to move towards the high-end. DRAM chips are currently mainly used to promote process progress through further miniaturization, and their impact on the etching equipment market is similar to that of logical processes. In addition, the capacitance slots and embedded word line structure in DRAM also create additional demands for high-deep etching devices.In the field of 3D NAND memory, domestic wafer factories advance the process through stacking rather than miniaturization; multi-layer 3D NAND requires a large number of etching machines to perform hole digging processes, so etching equipment accounts for nearly 50% of the total capital expenditure. There is a massive data storage demand in China, which has a huge demand for 3D NAND. Realizing the domestic production of 3D NAND is crucial to information security. Although the new trade restrictions may lead to a hindered production expansion in the short term, in the long run, domestic 3D NAND companies have sufficient policy and financial support, and their technical level is small and they have a firm will to expand production. Therefore, 3D NAND is an important potential market for domestic etching equipment companies.
4.3. The domestic production rate of etching equipment is low, and the market demand is vast
Domestic etching equipment is mainly sold to the domestic market. Based on the proportion of semiconductor equipment market in mainland China over the years, the estimated scale of the global etching equipment market of 2020 was US$13.69 billion, and the market size of China's etching equipment in 2020 was US$3.42 billion. China Micro Company's etching equipment contributed 1.289 billion yuan in 2020, and Yitang Co., Ltd.'s etching equipment contributed 120 million yuan in 2020. If the etching equipment revenue of Beifang Huachuang that year was 1 billion yuan, the total market size of domestic etching equipment was about 2.4 billion yuan, and the corresponding market share was only about 10%.
From 2020 to 2022, domestic etching equipment companies have successively achieved process verification breakthroughs in wafer factories, and their share in the global market has increased to about 4%. Among the public bidding projects from January to June 2022, domestic etching equipment has won bids, as shown in Table 11, which has reached 50%. However, since a large number of equipment purchases of 12-inch wafer fabs have not been publicly tendered, and some imported renovation equipment exists in the winning etching equipment, so the actual domesticization rate should be far lower than 50%. In the fields of high-end processes such as Damascus integrated etching, side wall etching, and contact hole etching, imported equipment still accounts for the absolute majority, and the potential market space for domestic substitution is still very broad.
. Key companies analyzeNorthern Huachuang: A pioneer in the field of ICP silicon etching
Northern Huachuang is the leading domestic ICP silicon etching equipment. Its predecessors, Northern Microelectronics and Qixing Microelectronics, were established in 2001. It is one of the earliest semiconductor equipment companies in China, involving integrated circuit manufacturing, solar energy, LED, packaging, new energy lithium batteries, power semiconductors and other fields. Beifang Huachuang's first 12-inch etching machine entered the SMIC Beijing factory in 2008 for process certification of 90-65-nanometer processes. During the same period, Northern Huachuang gradually improved its technical level by relying on 02 national major projects. By 2017, Northern Huachuang's etching equipment completed the 28-nanometer process verification, and gradually realized the industrialization of etching equipment.
Company achieved revenue of 9.683 billion yuan in 2021, of which electronic process equipment revenue was 7.949 billion yuan, accounting for 82% of the overall revenue. In the first half of 2022, Northern Huachuang's electronic process equipment business contributed 4.10 billion yuan in revenue. Plasma dry etching machine is the core product of Beifang Huachuang. The company's etching equipment currently covers three major areas: silicon etching, metal etching, and medium etching. Northern Huachuang provides two major types of dry etching machines, namely NMC508 series and NMC612 series, for two wafer sizes: 8-inch and 12-inch wafer sizes. The
NMC508 series is mainly used for the production of 8-inch wafers. Beifang Huachuang has achieved full coverage in the field of 8-inch wafer etching equipment. The NMC612 series ICP etching machines are mainly used for silicon etching steps in the 12-inch wafer manufacturing process. This series of machines has been used in multiple domestic mass production lines. Among them, the latest NMC612D machine has completed the relevant verification of the self-alignment dual pattern of fin transistors (14nm FinFET SADP) steps in 14-nanometer process nodes. All process indicators have met the mass production requirements, and a major breakthrough in etching process technology has been achieved.
China Micro Company: CCP media etching leader
China Micro Company was established in Shanghai, China in August 2004. It is a high-tech enterprise mainly engaged in the production of etching equipment and MOCVD equipment. The company's main founders are Yin Zhiyao, the US executive of Innovent Technology, and 15 other senior Chinese engineering and technical personnel and managers in the semiconductor equipment industry in Silicon Valley. Most of the team's core members have 20 to 30 years of experience in semiconductor equipment research and development and production.China Micro Corporation's global sales and marketing headquarters is located in Singapore, and has branches or offices in Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and other places. China Micro Corporation's CCP dielectric etching equipment is in a leading position in China and has successfully entered the back-end process part of TSMC's 5-nanometer production line, taking the lead in achieving breakthroughs in domestic etching equipment in the field of high-end processes. In the memory field, China Micro etching equipment has achieved large-scale applications in 64-layer and 128-layer 3D NAND production lines and 1X nano DRAM production lines. During the same period, Primo HD-RIE, a high-deep aspect ratio dielectric etching device developed by China Micro Company, was successfully shipped, and performed well in some key etching steps in DRAM and 3D NAND production, breaking the monopoly of foreign companies in the field of high-deep aspect ratio media etching to a certain extent.
Zhongwei Company's CCP etching equipment products include Primo AD-RIE, Primo SSC AD-RIE, Primo HDRIE and many other models. Among them, Primo D-RIE has a relatively unique dual reaction chamber structure, and the two reaction chambers share a exhaust system. With its excellent cost and efficiency advantages, this type of machine has gained an advantage in the steps of back-end through-holes and passivation layer etching in the domestic logic chip production line. In 2021, the company produced and shipped 298 chambers of CCP etching equipment, with output increasing by 40% year-on-year.
While CCP etching equipment continues to make breakthroughs, China Micro ICP etching equipment has also made great progress. China Micro Corporation's Primo nanova ICP etching equipment was shipped in 2016 and has been verified in more than 100 etching processes on production lines of more than 15 customers. As of the end of December 2021, China Micro Company has successfully delivered more than 180 ICP etching reaction chambers; of which 134 ICP etching reaction chambers were delivered throughout 2021, with a year-on-year increase of 235%. In March 2021, China Micro launched the Primo Twin-Star ICP etching equipment, which follows China Micro's internationally leading dual-reaction table design concept and adopts most of the hardware design solutions of Primo nanova etching equipment. Primo Twin-Star type etching machine has good performance while improving product economy and output efficiency. China Micro Corporation's Primo TSV type etching equipment also uses ICP etching technology, with high-performance through-silicon capabilities, and is used in the fields of chip 3D packaging, CMOS image sensors, light emitting diodes, microelectromechanical systems, etc.
Yitang Co., Ltd.: The etching rookie
In May 2016, Yizhuang Guotou successfully acquired Mattson Technology through Yitang Semiconductor. This is the first case of China Capital's successful acquisition of international semiconductor equipment companies. Yitang Co., Ltd. has mastered its related technologies in the fields of etching, glue removal, heat treatment, etc. through the acquisition of Mattson.
Yitang Co., Ltd. owns the traditional plasma etching equipment paradigmE series and the new product Novyka series. The paradigmE series etching equipment uses a flat inductive coupling body source design, has a dual wafer reaction chamber, a dual reaction chamber product platform design, and a multi-zone temperature-controlled electrostatic adsorption chuck. The Novyka series is an etching device with a high selection ratio.
etching equipment has many categories of parts, and the proportion of domestic production needs to be increased urgently. As one of the core equipment of semiconductor production lines, its structural complexity is second only to lithography. The initial models of domestic etching equipment have a high degree of dependence on imported parts; as equipment companies pay more attention to the independent control of parts, a group of domestic suppliers with certain strength have emerged in China; however, in the more complex mechanical and electrical and electronic parts fields, most domestic companies are still in the start-up or verification stage.
FuChuang Precision: Focusing on the processing of semiconductor metal parts
FuChuang Precision was founded in 2008 and is an enterprise focusing on the manufacturing of semiconductor precision parts. The company's main products include process parts, structural parts, gas pipelines, modules, etc. The company has complete production processes and has been certified by many domestic and foreign semiconductor equipment manufacturers. Since its establishment, the company has continued to increase its R&D investment, continuously expanding its product categories, and has passed the 39 major special process certifications of Customer A. During the reporting period, the company delivered more than 3,000 first-piece parts to customers per year, and more than 2,000 first-piece types were mass-produced.
FuChuang Precision's revenue has grown rapidly, with abundant orders in hand, and the capacity utilization rate has continued to increase. In 2021, the company achieved operating income of 843 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 75.21%. The company's capacity utilization rate has also continued to increase. In 2021, the capacity utilization rate of process and structural parts reached 90.17%, an increase of 8.96 pct year-on-year. The company's orders are also quite full. At the end of the period 2022H1, the company's contract liabilities were 33 million yuan, the inventory of products was 92 million yuan, and the inventory of finished products was 164 million yuan. With the rapid growth of Fuchuang Precision's revenue, the capacity utilization rate of the original production line is also approaching full. The company plans to build new factories in Nantong and Beijing.
is also one of the few companies in the world that have the production capacity of 7nm process parts. Fuchuang Precision has improved the cleanliness of parts and corrosion resistance in wafer processing equipment through the development of new coatings, high-cleanness cleaning processes, and new coating processes, thus improving the yield rate of 7nm process components. In addition, the company's knowledge accumulation in precision machinery, surface treatment, welding, assembly and other manufacturing processes also ensures the high-quality production of 7nm process components. At present, Fuchuang Precision's 7-nanometer products have covered equipment including etching machines, oxidation diffusion furnaces, and thin film deposition machines.
Jiangfeng Electronics: Cross-border entry into the parts field
Ningbo Jiangfeng Electronics was established in 2005. The core team is composed of many overseas returnee doctors and has introduced many foreign experts. The company initially focused on the research and development of semiconductor targets and made great breakthroughs. Its products cover a variety of target materials such as aluminum, titanium, and copper. With its advantages in the field of high-purity metal processing, Jiangfeng Electronics has successfully expanded its product categories to the field of semiconductor parts.
company has a high technical moat. Manufacturing processes include ultra-precision processing, diffusion welding, argon arc welding, vacuum brazing, surface treatment, anodization, plasma spraying, thermal spraying, special coating, super purification and cleaning, etc. In the advanced chip production process, various precision parts, CMP retention rings (Retainer Rings), polishing pads (Pads), etc. are widely used as consumables. Parts products have extremely high technical requirements for precision manufacturing technology of metal materials, special surface treatment processes, etc. In recent years, the company has continued to invest in the research and development of parts manufacturing processes and invested in strengthening equipment capabilities. The company has built a full process and full process production system for parts production, and has built three parts production bases in Yuyao, Ningbo, Fengxian, Shanghai, and Shenyang, Shenbei, and achieved mass production of multiple varieties, large-scale and high-quality parts. It has filled the capacity gap in the domestic parts industry and formed strategic cooperation with many manufacturers such as Beifang Huachuang, Tuojing Technology, Xinyuanwei, Shanghai Shengmei, Shanghai Microelectronics, Yitang Technology and other domestic semiconductor equipment leaders. The newly developed various semiconductor precision parts products have accelerated their volume.
Jiangfeng subsidiary has conquered the field of etching equipment parts and entered the stage of accelerated volume growth. Hangzhou Ruisheng is a stake in Jiangfeng Electronics. It has recently conquered the production technology of core components of etching equipment for advanced semiconductor manufacturing processes, and has recently been recognized by downstream customers and successfully obtained product supply orders. Hangzhou Ruisheng is a crucial strategic deployment in Jiangfeng Electronics' parts business segment, focusing on the precision processing of brittle materials for integrated circuits, and the product layout of semiconductor brittle materials with high-purity silicon, quartz, ceramics and other components.
Xinlai Instrument Materials: Deeply engaging in the field of pipeline valve parts
Xinlai Instrument Materials was founded in Taiwan, China in 1991. It has entered the semiconductor industry since 2010. In the early days, it mainly manufactured key parts OEM for semiconductor equipment companies such as AMAT and Lam Research. Since 2014, the company has laid out its own brand and passed the equipment enterprise supplier certification in 2018, and has accumulated a deep technology in the field of semiconductor equipment parts. Since the second half of 2020, the global semiconductor market has continued to rise. As the leader in the domestic equipment and parts segmentation track, the company's performance has grown rapidly.
Company is mainly engaged in pressure pipeline components, low-power pneumatic control valves, fluid equipment, vacuum electronic cleaning equipment and related parts. The company's semiconductor products are mainly cavity, pipe fittings, valves, pumps and other components, which are used in the vacuum and gas fields.The company focuses on developing processes such as processing, surface treatment and other processes of vacuum semiconductor components, and continues to provide high-end, efficient, clean pumps, ultra-clean pipe fittings, and ultra-clean high-sealing vacuum chambers.
capacity expansion, performance key nodes: The company's semiconductor products are aimed at many domestic and foreign customers, including foreign Meishang Yingcai, LAM, domestic Beifang Huachuang, Changjiang Storage, Hefei Changxin, Wuxi Hynix, Zhengfan Technology, Zhichun Technology, Yaxiang Integration and other well-known customers. As a qualified supplier to many customers, the company has sufficient product orders, and production capacity is currently the main bottleneck restricting the company's business growth. Currently, the company has many customers in semiconductor vacuum system products. In the future, gas system products will be the company's focus. In the first half of this year, the special gas products of its own brand have been shipped in batches by some customers.
Yingjie Electric: Focus on the domestic production of RF power supplies
Yingjie Electric was established in 1996 and is one of the leading industrial power companies in China. Yingjie Electric started from the industrial power supply for photovoltaic silicon wafer and silicon material production equipment, and gradually expanded horizontally to non-high-end semiconductor fields such as sapphire and silicon carbide. The main product produced by the company, the PD series programmable DC power supply, has been stably supplied to China Micro Company's MOCVD equipment, successfully realizing domestic substitution. In addition, the company's RF power supply products are expected to continue to extend to the high-end and enter the field of etching equipment parts, thereby eliminating overseas supply chain risks.
Yingjie Electric's classified operating income has fluctuated certainly in recent years. Among them, "semiconductors and other electronic materials" businesses include LEDs, silicon carbide, radio frequency sources for high-end integrated circuits, etc. Due to a certain degree of correction in the non-high-end pan-semiconductor market such as LED from 2019 to 2020, the revenue of semiconductor businesses has decreased. In 2021, the prosperity of various major business categories of companies rebounded, with a total operating income of 660 million yuan that year. In 2022H1, Yingjie Electric continued to maintain a high growth rate, achieving revenue of 452 million yuan, with a year-on-year growth rate of 67.87%. As the company's radio frequency source products enter the verification stage on etching equipment, the pace of products moving towards high-end continues, and revenue scale and profitability are expected to be further improved.
Guoli Co., Ltd.: Provides key components of RF power supply
Guoli Co., Ltd. specializes in the production of electronic vacuum devices. The vacuum capacitors it produces are mainly used in semiconductor equipment RF power supply matchers, which are crucial to realizing the domestic substitution of core semiconductor components. Through more than 20 years of technical accumulation and R&D investment, Guoli Co., Ltd. has mastered the core technologies covering all key links in electronic vacuum device production and manufacturing. The corresponding technologies and products cover a wide range of coverage and have been fully recognized by customers and certification agencies.
's main products are electronic vacuum components, and their products are divided into active devices and passive devices, and are used in multiple fields such as energy, semiconductors, military industry, aerospace, etc. Passive devices include ceramic high-voltage DC contacts, contact point groups, ceramic high-voltage vacuum contactors, vacuum AC contactors, ceramic vacuum switch tubes, ceramic vacuum capacitors, and active devices include high-power thyristors, high-power magnetrons, and high-power speed control tubes.
Guoli Co., Ltd.'s operating income has grown steadily year by year. In 2021, the company achieved revenue of 509 million yuan, mainly from new energy vehicles, traditional energy, aerospace businesses, and semiconductor capacitor businesses accounted for a relatively small proportion. The semiconductor capacitor business contributed 038 million yuan in revenue, accounting for about 7.5% of the company's overall revenue. As domestic semiconductor equipment manufacturers pay more attention to the independent control of parts, the demand for domestic RF power supplies and matchers has increased; Guoli Co., Ltd., as a supplier of key capacitor parts upstream of matchers, has great growth potential.
Xinsong Robot: Product Coverage Equipment Front-end Module
Shenyang Xinsong Robot was established in 2000. It is a high-tech listed company with robot technology as the core. It has a R&D and innovation team of more than 4,000 people. At the same time, relying on the strong technical strength of the Shenyang Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, it insists on market-oriented technological innovation, forming a complete robot product line and Industry 4.0 overall solution.Xinsong’s robot product categories cover a comprehensive range, including more than 100 products in five series, including industrial robots, mobile robots, special robots, collaborative robots, and medical service robots. Xinsong Robot's semiconductor vacuum robot, atmospheric robot, and EFEM products are leading in the country.
Xinsong Robot achieved operating income of 3.298 billion yuan in 2021, of which semiconductor products achieved revenue of 164 million yuan; its traditional robot business still contributes most of its revenue, and the company's overall profitability is currently weak.
Huazhuo Jingke: A pioneer in the domestic production of electrostatic chucks
Beijing Huazhuo Jingke was founded on May 9, 2012. The founder is Zhu Yu, professor of the Department of Mechanics at Tsinghua University. His main business is integrated circuit manufacturing equipment and key components. Huazhuo Jingke is one of the few enterprises in China that conducts research and development and production of electrostatic chucks.
Huazhuo Jingke has developed aluminum nitride electrostatic chucks for PVD process suitable for 12-inch wafers, which to a certain extent breaks the long-term monopoly situation of foreign manufacturers in this product field, but the overall product performance still has a certain gap compared with the international advanced level. Electrostatic chucks suitable for etching equipment are still under verification.
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selected report source: [Future Think Tank]. system error
