"Mr. Yu, do you have any comments or would you like to know about our two devices?" asked the ASML staff on the side.

"Nothing...... Let's go back. ”

Yu Zixian has nothing to look at, mainly to confirm the existence and integrity of the equipment, and the other is to correspond to the technical characteristics of the equipment, and Yu Zixian values the main two points: 1.5 micron process, step-by-step.

In Yu Zixian's heart, these two lithography machines are already Xiangjidian's. Leave the rest to the negotiating table, and then try to get as much benefit as possible.

When Yu Zixian visited the lithography machine in the TSMC warehouse and confirmed the purchase intention with ASML, the focus of negotiations with ASML shifted from Finland in Europe to Hsinchu, Bay Island.

When it comes to the cooperation and growth of TSMC and ASML, the reason is immersion lithography.

So what is immersion lithography?

Since Moore's Law was proposed, the human imagination has been given unlimited leeway. Every time the size is reduced, it means that the process is innovative, and the process of changing the dynasty is constantly staged, and the immersion lithography has also entered the historical stage.

Prototype experiments of immersion lithography began to appear in the 90s of the last century. In 1999, IBM's Hoffnagle used a 257nm interferometric system to produce dense patterns with a period of 89nm. The immersion solution used at that time was cyclooctane. However, due to the lack of understanding of key issues such as the filling of immersion liquid, the contamination of lenses, the stability of photoresists, and the damage of air bubbles, people did not carry out in-depth research on immersion lithography at that time.

Before 2002, it was widely believed that 193nm lithography could not be extended to the 65nm technology node, and 157nm would become the mainstream technology. However, 157nm lithography has encountered great challenges from lithography machine lenses. This is due to the fact that the vast majority of materials strongly absorb light waves at 157 nm, and only CaF2 can barely be used. However, the defect rate and aberration of the grinding CaF2 lens are difficult to control and are quite expensive. To add insult to injury, its lifespan is also extremely short, and the frequent replacement of lenses is intolerable to the chip manufacturing industry.

Just when many researchers were hesitant in the face of 157nm immersion lithography, Lin Benjian, then senior director of TSMC, proposed the concept of 193nm immersion lithography. Water is an opaque liquid at 157 nm, but almost completely transparent at 193 nm. And the refractive index of water at 193nm is as high as 1.44, while the visible light is only 1.33! If water is such an ideal immersion solution, with the already very mature 193nm lithography equipment, then the equipment manufacturers only need to make minor improvements, focusing on solving the problems related to water immersion, and the 193nm water immersion lithography machine is close at hand. At the same time, the equivalent wavelength of 193nm light wave in water is shortened to 134nm, which is enough to exceed the limit of 157nm. The research of 193nm immersion lithography has become the focus of the lithography industry.

Immersion lithography is a new type of lithography technology that fills the projection lens of the lithography machine with a liquid between the semiconductor silicon wafer to obtain better resolution and increase the numerical aperture of the lens, thereby achieving a smaller exposure size.

Back at this time in 91, TSMC was just TSMC, ASML was just ASML, and both were still younger brothers in their respective fields.

The conceptual difference between semiconductors and integrated circuits and chips.

1. Basic definitions, concepts and classifications

Semiconductors are materials that have conductive properties between conductors and insulators at room temperature. In a narrow sense, semiconductor materials in the microelectronics industry mainly refer to: germanium (Ge), silicon (Si), gallium arsenide (GaAs). Broadly speaking, semiconductor materials also include various oxide semiconductors, organic semiconductors, etc.

Classification of semiconductors

According to its manufacturing technology, it can be divided into: integrated circuit devices, discrete devices, optoelectronic semiconductors, logic ICs, analog ICs, memories and other categories, generally speaking, these will be divided into subcategories. In addition, there are also methods to classify by application field, design method, etc., and although it is not commonly used, it is still classified by IC, LSI, VLSI (ultra-large LSI), and their size. In addition, there are methods that can be classified according to the signals they process, such as analog, digital, and analog-digital mixtures.

The connection and difference between chips and integrated circuits

A chip generally refers to the carrier of an integrated circuit, and it is also the result of the design, manufacturing, packaging, and testing of an integrated circuit, which is usually an independent whole that can be used immediately.

The words "chip" and "integrated circuit" are often used interchangeably, for example, in the common discussion topics, integrated circuit design and chip design say the same meaning, and the chip industry, integrated circuit industry, and IC industry often mean the same thing. Actually, there is a connection between these two words, as well as a difference.

The integrated circuit entity often exists in the form of a chip, because the integrated circuit in the narrow sense emphasizes the circuit itself, such as a phase shift oscillator that is as simple as only five components connected together, when it is still presented on the drawing, we can also call it an integrated circuit, when we want to apply this small integrated circuit, then it must be an independent piece of physical object, or embedded in a larger integrated circuit, relying on the chip to play its role; integrated circuits pay more attention to the design and layout of circuits, and chips emphasize the integration of circuits, production and packaging. And generalized integrated circuits, when it comes to industries (different from other industries), can also contain various meanings related to chips.

Chips also have their own unique features, in a broad sense, as long as the semiconductor chip is manufactured by microfabrication means, it can be called a chip, and there is not necessarily a circuit in it. For example, semiconductor light source chips, mechanical chips such as MEMS gyroscopes, or biochips such as DNA chips. In communication and information technology, when the scope is limited to silicon integrated circuits, the intersection of chips and integrated circuits is on the "circuit on silicon wafer". Chipset is a series of interrelated chip combinations, which depend on each other and can play a greater role together, such as the processor and north-south bridge chipset in the computer, and the RF, baseband and power management chipset in the mobile phone.

The concept of chips.

Integrated circuits that manufacture circuits on the surface of semiconductor chips are also known as thin-film integrated circuits. Another kind of thick-film integrated circuit (thick-film) integrated circuit is a miniaturized circuit composed of independent semiconductor devices and passive components integrated into a substrate or circuit board.

From 1949 to 1957, Werner Jacobi, Jeffrey Dummer, Sidney Darlington, Yasuo Tarui all developed prototypes, but the modern integrated circuit was invented by Jack Kilby in 1958. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000, but Robert Noyce, who also developed modern practical integrated circuits, died in 1990.

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