Global Monopoly of Technology

Cote d'Azur laboratory, Zixing lithography machine dust-free studio.

This morning, Luo Sheng came here after receiving the news. At this time, in this clean room of more than 20,000 square meters, dozens of engineers and Luo Sheng were all wearing work clean clothes, and he was holding a A piece of wafer tape-out is repeatedly observed and appreciated. The art of this size is the masterpiece of the Zixing lithography machine.

An engineer standing next to him said excitedly: "The conversion efficiency of the light source has reached the same level, and the correct control has been achieved. The team has conquered the 250-watt light source, and the customer can achieve a throughput of 155 wafers per hour. In the laboratory, the light source power of more than 300 watts can be achieved, and the Zixing equipment can be officially shipped after the final test."

Several of the world's top chip manufacturers have always insisted that 250 watts of light source power is a necessary condition to achieve a throughput of 155 wafers per hour, and ASML and light source technology supplier Cymer have so far failed to achieve this. The light source power target, this company was acquired by ASML two years ago, but the progress is limited, which is why ASML is not developing smoothly, although they have developed an extreme ultraviolet lithography machine one step ahead.

Luo Sheng handed the tape-out in his hand to the engineer next to him, and said with a smile: "Good job, we can now confidently say that the most important lithography machine for semiconductor manufacturing equipment, we are leading the world, and domestic semiconductor manufacturers hold big It depends on the mood of the other party to ask ASML to buy the banknotes, and it’s time to end.”

The people present were also very excited when they heard this. As soon as Luo Sheng's voice fell behind, they couldn't stop their excitement and applauded, applauding for the milestone breakthrough in the domestic semiconductor industry, and applauding for their own business. .

More than 2,000 people fought day and night for nothing but to fight for a breath.

Tens of thousands of engineers, researchers, and hundreds of manufacturers cooperated to focus firepower on a single point to continuously launch firepower attacks, while Luo Sheng was only in the research and development of extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment during the more than two thousand solar cycles of the earth. It has invested more than 100 billion US dollars, which is five times as much as ASML's investment in the research and development of extreme ultraviolet lithography machines.

But without a doubt, it was all worth it.

Li Chunsheng, director of the Zixing Lithography Project, said: "Compared with the industry's light source of about 25 watts in 2012, the 250-watt light source represents a tenfold improvement. ASML's engineers were very helpful when briefing EUV production economics. Helplessly said: 250 watts of light source power will always be the goal for next year, haha.”

Domestic semiconductors have always been inferior to foreigners, and the confidence of relevant domestic practitioners has been hit for a long time. This breakthrough is not only a real breakthrough in results, but also gives great confidence to those with lofty ideals in the domestic semiconductor industry. .

Faith this thing sounds a bit mysterious,

Especially working in tech, but sometimes it really matters, it's a morale issue.

The Purple Star lithography machine was successfully completed before ASML's NXE. Although the other party will solve this problem sooner or later, and it will not wait too long, this is definitely a milestone event in the field of semiconductor equipment.

Because this will break the pattern of the global semiconductor industry chain, and it will certainly push the entire industry into a new era.

Luo Sheng looked at the technicians present, and he could see that everyone's heart was very difficult to calm at the moment, and said: "There are always people outside who keep saying that our technology development cannot be successful, and our talents are not as good as foreigners. It really took a lot of time. It took a long time and a lot of human, material and financial investment, but we finally reached the end, where everyone outside thought it was impossible to go.”

It is worth mentioning that, in addition to reaching the milestone of light source power, there is also a significant improvement in the performance of Zixing lithography machine tools, and the progress of the industry in the construction of Zixing lithography machine infrastructure has also received good news, including light. mask, mask film and photoresist, etc.

There are some pig teammates in the team, but most of them are still reliable.

The breakthrough of extreme ultraviolet lithography technology means that the life of Moore's Law will be continued again, but this cannot be accomplished by one or two manufacturers. For the domestic integrated circuit business, foreigners will not take you to play the most high-end, only give you Play them and play the rest.

Therefore, the domestic semiconductor industry chain created by Luo Sheng can only be developed by himself. The funds alone cost five times as much as foreign competitors. It also requires materials, equipment, knowledge, etc. in the entire semiconductor industry chain. The major subdivisions work together to solve the technical problems like a team game, so as to smoothly move towards the destination.

These difficulties cannot be summed up in a few words. During the period, the team's running-in, the interests disputes with upstream and downstream manufacturers, and technical differences are all problems that must be resolved.

There are also pig teammates like Pengxing Precision who cheated money in the process. This is Luo Sheng's most angry. It doesn't matter if he cheats him for money. He has money, but delaying the development progress because of this matter is the most helpless. of.

The biggest difference between the semiconductor industry and other industries is that it requires major subdivisions to pass the customs together. If you drop a chain here, other links are fine, but in order to wait for you to have to let go, you can only stare blankly during this period. The barrel effect is in This field is magnified.

Obviously, this is of course an angry curse for other manufacturers.

"Chunsheng, please inform the heads of the technical departments and hold a small meeting in ten minutes." Luo Sheng explained and left the clean room of Zixing Lithography Machine.

"Okay." Li Chunsheng.

...

Less than ten minutes later, in a lounge inside the Cote d'Azur laboratory, Li Chunsheng notified the heads of the major technical departments that they had all put down their work and came here.

At this moment, more than 20 people are sitting, standing, or leaning against the wall in the lounge in twos and threes.

Luo Sheng looked at everyone with radiance and joy at the moment. After all, today is indeed a time to celebrate. The outside world does not know that the domestic integrated circuit business has made a milestone breakthrough, but they are on the front line. of researchers already know.

Everyone can't wait to report this exciting news to the country.

"Everyone, in the past six years, my financial investment in the domestic semiconductor business alone has exceeded 3 trillion yuan, of which the R\u0026D investment in lithography equipment alone has exceeded 660 billion yuan. These are all 'make-up fees'. , I also use love to generate electricity, no matter the cost, I have been hollowed out to be reasonable, and there will be no second 3 trillion smashed in."

Luo Sheng's remarks caused everyone to laugh and laugh. The domestic integrated circuit industry has been silently advancing in the past six years, which is naturally the credit of the entire team, but everyone also knows that this milestone breakthrough can be achieved without Luo Sheng. .

Without his bold move, without his financial support and key technology support, and his strong cohesion to bring together the top talents in the entire industry, it is absolutely impossible for the domestic integrated circuit business to achieve today's achievements.

Who is the biggest contributor to the round, it must be Luo Sheng, and no one disagrees.

Luo Sheng continued: "So, the official commercialization of the Zixing lithography machine is on the agenda, but everyone present is engaged in technology, and other teams will do the commercialization, we still have to do it today. Talking about technical issues, the breakthrough of EUV lithography machine does not mean that the high-end manufacturing of the domestic integrated circuit business has been completely independent. I am not afraid to tell you that we have only achieved 40% of the goal so far, and 60% of the goal is still to be conquered.”

As soon as these words came out, everyone poured a basin of cold water from the joyful atmosphere and calmed down.

Yes, the reason why the semiconductor business is difficult is that it is difficult here. There seems to be an inexhaustible level ahead, and the core links have not yet achieved all domestic autonomy.

For example, the wafer purification technology of chips, currently domestic related manufacturers have not reached the level of high precision, this link is monopolized by Japan's Shin-Etsu Chemical, the world's high-end chip wafers use Shin-Etsu Chemical, if he does not give For your high-purity wafers, the entire industry is still in a state of laziness.

In other words, Luo Sheng's 3 trillion investment still cannot achieve the autonomy of the entire domestic high-end chip industry.

There are other key links as well.

There is a long way to go for the self-development of the entire domestic semiconductor industry chain.

Luo Sheng said solemnly: "The current industry news is that both TSMC and Samsung have successfully introduced EUV technology to 10 nanometers and started mass production next year. In the field of high-end chip manufacturing, we are now in the top echelon, and the light source is ready. However, some technologies and materials are still a huge challenge, that is, after entering a new chapter of Moore's Law, the process below 9 nanometers requires lower cost and higher resolution EUV photoresist technology."

Photoresist, this is the next technical pain point.

Everyone also guessed what Luo Sheng was talking about. Today's semiconductor technology has been extended to 10 nanometers, but it is becoming more and more difficult to achieve specific patterns, and multiple exposures have also brought about an increase in production costs.

Luo Sheng continued: "After the introduction of EUV lithography, its role is the key lithography layer of the latest logic process. Before chip manufacturers were introduced, EUV was a lithography machine, a light source, and a photoresist. and photomask."

Everyone nodded silently. In the past, the criticality of extreme ultraviolet lithography technology was mostly the light source, because insufficient power of the light source would affect the production efficiency of the chip.

After the light source problem is solved, the new challenge is the limitation of photoresist technology.

...

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