It is reported that the 5nm etching machine manufactured by China Micro Semiconductor Equipment (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. has completed mass production preparations and will be delivered to TSMC for use in the second half of the year. This is another major breakthrough in the domestic chip manufacturing industry chain.
Due to well-known reasons, chip manufacturing currently pays the most attention to lithography machines. However, due to various reasons, China faces difficulties in acquiring advanced lithography machines. China's chip manufacturing industry chain has not been discouraged by this. Instead, through their Work together to make breakthroughs on the existing basis.
Etching machines are the fastest-growing link in China's chip manufacturing industry chain. Other links have only just progressed to 14nm. Photolithography machines are still working on 28nm, and etching machines have completed the 7nm process and are now moving forward to 5nm. Technology and etching machines can be said to be the most successful technological innovations in China's chip manufacturing industry chain.
In fact, etching machines and photolithography machines are one of the two most important links in chip manufacturing. In chip manufacturing, the photolithography machine draws the circuit diagram of the chip, and the etching machine physically converts the circuit diagram drawn by the photolithography machine into a physical form. Or chemically remove excess parts of the silicon wafer to highlight the circuitry of the wafer.
According to industry insiders, the cost of photolithography machines in chip manufacturing accounts for nearly 30%, while the cost of etching machines accounts for about 20%-27%. It can be said that etching machines are important chip manufacturing equipment after photolithography machines. Therefore, It can be seen that China's breakthrough in etching machines is a huge progress in chip manufacturing.
Various industries in China's chip manufacturing industry are now trying their best to rely on the existing foundation to develop chip manufacturing. In terms of chip production capacity, domestic chip manufacturing is currently mainly based on 14nm and more mature processes to meet domestic demand. Industry insiders believe that 14nm can meet 70% of domestic demand. need.
As the global chip market is currently in a downward phase, companies have become more stringent in cost control and are promoting 28nm and older processes overseas because these processes are more mature, lower cost, and more reliable. As a result, China's three major chip foundries Instead, they have become beneficiaries. In 2021, the revenue growth rate of China's three major chip foundries ranks first, surpassing TSMC.
Seeing that mature processes are favored by the chip industry, TSMC, which owns advanced processes such as 5nm, is now expanding its 28nm process capacity in an attempt to compete with the three major chip manufacturing companies in mainland China. But for the chip industry, advanced technology is the future after all. For this reason, China's chip industry chain still needs to accelerate the development of advanced technology.
China's progress in etching machines proves that chip manufacturing equipment is not an unbreakable technology. The rapid progress of etching machines will prompt China's chip industry chain to accelerate technology research and development. It can be expected that China's chip manufacturing industry chain will break through sooner or later. The current shackles are to achieve complete independent research and development.
Faced with China's breakthrough in the chip manufacturing industry chain, ASML, which owns advanced lithography machines, is already a little anxious. ASML executives have long stated that restrictions on the shipment of lithography machines from China will not help the healthy development of the global chip supply chain. , China will be able to break through its technological limitations sooner or later, and China's breakthroughs in etching machines undoubtedly confirm ASML's predictions, and ASML has also begun to increase its efforts to ship lithography machines to China, hoping to gain more benefits in this market.