lithography machine market is currently almost dominated by ASML in the Netherlands, Nikon and Canon in Japan, and Shanghai Microelectronics in China. Among them, the Dutch ASML occupies the market share of high-end lithography machines, and currently the highest can reach 2nm process, Japan's Nikon and Canon are in the low-end market, while Shanghai Microelectronics currently only has the low-end lithography machine market, and Shanghai Microelectronics lithography machines At present, only 90nm process can be achieved. It is said that the 28nm process lithography machine will be launched in 2021, and the gap is still not small.
The key position of the lithography machine in the semiconductor supply chain
The semiconductor chip industry chain is divided into three major links: IC design, IC manufacturing, and IC packaging and testing. The main function of lithography is to transfer the chip circuit diagram on the mask to the silicon wafer. It is the core link of IC manufacturing. The lithography process defines the size of semiconductor devices and is the most complex and critical step in the chip production process.
The photolithography process is the most difficult and time-consuming. The chip generally needs 20-30 times of photolithography during the production process, which takes about 40-60% of the entire silicon wafer process. The cost is extremely high, about 1/3 of the entire chip manufacturing process.
The lithography machine is the core equipment of the lithography process, and it is also the equipment with the highest technical content of all semiconductor manufacturing equipment. As the first of the seven major equipment of the previous process (lithography machine, etching machine, coating equipment, measuring equipment, cleaning machine, ion implanter, and other equipment), lithography machine has great value content and is in the investment of manufacturing equipment Individual items account for up to 23%, and the technical requirements are extremely high. It integrates many top technologies in the fields of mathematics, optics, fluid mechanics, polymer physics and chemistry, surface physics and chemistry, precision instruments, machinery, automation, software, and image recognition. The level of photolithography directly determines the manufacturing process and performance level of the chip.
The lithography machine is the crystallization of the wisdom of human industrial civilization, the master of global technology, and is known as the jewel in the crown of the semiconductor industry.
Technical difficulties of high-precision lithography machine
The high-end lithography machine combines the world’s top technology, such as: Zeiss lens technology from Germany, control software and light source from the United States, and Japanese Special composite materials, etc.
ASML's success is the collection of the world's top technologies and the continuous verification and strengthening of chip foundry companies in their production practices. The difficulties of the lithography equipment are as follows:
1. In the ASML lithography machine, the light source needs to hit a 20-micron tin drop with a 20kW laser at a frequency of 50,000 times per second to vaporize the liquid tin into Plasma, which generates extreme ultraviolet light (EUV).
2. ASML's EUV lithography machine needs to achieve a resolution below 13 nm.
3. The air in the ASML clean room is 10,000 times cleaner than the outside. In order to achieve this goal, the ventilation equipment in the clean room must purify 300,000 cubic meters of air per hour.
Fourth, in ASML's high numerical aperture EUV equipment, in order to accurately achieve the line width below 10 nanometers and the overlay accuracy within 1 nanometer, the focusing reflector must be very flat.
The industry’s top lens and light source
Zeiss is an international leading technology company in the optics and optoelectronics industry. It develops and sells semiconductor manufacturing equipment, measurement technology, microscopes, medical technology, eyeglass lenses, cameras and Photography lens, telescope and planetarium technology. In the field of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, Carl Zeiss provides mainstream 193nm lithography optical systems and extreme ultraviolet 13.5nm optical systems in the lithography field.
The lens of the EUV lithography machine is based on Zeiss technology. Carl Zeiss is the absolute authority in the field of optics and optoelectronics. It has long provided the most critical and high-performance optics for ASML lithography equipment. system.
The light source is another core component of the high-end lithography machine, and the wavelength of the light source determines the process capability of the lithography machine. The lithography machine needs a small, high-power and stable light source. As adopted by EUV lithography machineThe extreme ultraviolet light with a wavelength of 13.5nm is used, which is extremely complicated in the optical system.
In 2013, ASML acquired Cymer, the world's leading excimer laser manufacturer, which accelerated the development of EUV light source technology and provided a guarantee for light source technology.
Zeiss and laser light sources represent the highest level of industrial technology in the world today. If we want to manufacture first-class lithography equipment, we must first have independent and controllable optical lenses and light source equipment, which requires us to work in specific basic disciplines. And the level of craftsmanship has been improved for many years.
The lithography machine is an ultra-complex thinking system
Take the 7nm extreme ultraviolet lithography machine as an example, it is divided into 13 systems, 30,000 parts, Hundreds of actuator sensors, 90% of the key equipment comes from top companies in the world. There are optical equipment and ultra-precision machinery from Germany, metering equipment and light source equipment from the United States. What the extreme ultraviolet lithography machine has to do is to control smartly. Every minute must be accurate when moving, and the error is dispersed into 13 sub-systems. If the German Zeiss lens is not accurate, the American light source is not precise, or the coordination mechanism in the middle makes a little mistake, it is unimaginable. The lithography machine itself is an ultra-complex thinking and decision-making system.
ASML’s investment mechanism determines that a steady stream of funds will be used for technological breakthroughs.
ASML continues to invest huge amounts of research and development costs, and integrates scientific research forces in the United States and Europe to promote The development of the core technology of EUV lithography machine.
ASML proposed the "Customer Joint Investment Plan" in 2012 in order to raise funds for the research and development of EUV lithography machines. Customers can have the priority order right after becoming a shareholder through capital injection. As a result, ASML's R&D funding pressure has been transferred to customers. Customers need to pay for the research and development of advanced lithography technology, but at the same time they will also have the priority to use advanced technology.
The lithography machine is highly customizable. The foundry process of downstream manufacturers interacts and develops with lithography technology
The downstream wafer foundries, such as Although Samsung, intel, and TSMC all have the opportunity to obtain the most advanced lithography machine, the performance of the lithography machine on the chip production line of different manufacturers is still very different.
The lithography machine is a highly customized equipment, which is closely related to the process design and technical level of the foundry company. Therefore, the precipitation and development of lithography technology are driven by the experience summaries from downstream manufacturers in the first-line practice and the reverse promotion of technological magic changes.
Whether ASML can grow larger is related to its construction of an open research network composed of the world’s top players. It is the constant top-level practice that has created today’s ASML and today’s extreme Ultraviolet lithography machine.
has a long way to go. my country's lithography machine has been catching up with
in 2002, the country began to pay attention to the research and development of lithography machine. In the past 18 years, China has gradually narrowed the gap with the international lithography machine giants. The road is long and long. Shanghai Microelectronics has driven the rise of many lithography technology-related companies in China, such as lenses and light sources. We are catching up. On the road, we can only be unwavering and courageous.
