The difficulty of manufacturing lithography machines mainly lies in three key equipment: light sources, dual workpiece stages, and lithography machine lenses.

In terms of light sources, there is no doubt that country Z is the strongest in the world, and this conclusion can be drawn from the fact that country Z is significantly ahead of country M in laser weapons.

A small light source of lithography machine is completely difficult for the scientific researchers of country Z.

It is said that the motion control accuracy of the mask table based on the magnetic levitation planar motor developed by ASML has achieved 2 nanometers, which greatly improves the accuracy and efficiency of chip processing.

With such an advanced double workpiece table, foreign experts once arrogantly said: "There is no second institution in the world that can make it." ”

However, in less than five years, a scientific research team from Jinghua University in Z Province has developed a double workpiece table with a motion accuracy of about 2 nanometers, which has successfully passed the acceptance of the whole machine.

The key technical indicators have reached the technical level of the double workpiece table of similar lithography machines in the world.

The double workpiece table has also been conquered by the Z people.

Finally, the lithography machine lens, in recent years, the field of optical lenses has made rapid progress, and even the optical satellites manufactured by domestic satellite companies have a resolution of 1 meter and 0.5 meters, and the aircraft carriers, warships, and vehicles on the ground can be seen at a glance, and even the aircraft that is taking off can be photographed, and the rocket launch picture is amazing.

The performance of civilian optical satellites has been so exaggerated, and the military is certainly not even more impressive.

This reflects the progress of country Z in the field of optical lenses.

The lithography machine lens naturally does not make it difficult for the scientific researchers of country Z.

Therefore, the three core equipment used to manufacture lithography machines, such as light source, double workpiece table and lithography machine lens, are all mastered by country Z.

This is also the reason why ASML has opened up the sales of lithography machines to country Z...... The severe blockade, in the field of lithography machines, will only lead to a breakthrough in country Z at a faster pace.

The rabbit is in a hurry and will kill you.

The lithography machine in country Z has not caught up with the most advanced level abroad, on the one hand, the market share is firmly controlled; Secondly, taking the same technical route will inevitably infringe ASML's intellectual property rights and lead to patent lawsuits.

Plus the ban on the sale of some critical equipment.

The development of domestic lithography machines has always been tepid.

Even so, in order to bypass foreign patent barriers, the Institute of Optoelectronics of the Z Academy of Sciences has found another way and developed a new lithography machine -

Super-resolution nanolithography machine.

This lithography machine adopts a completely different technical route from traditional lithography equipment, using a 365 nm near-ultraviolet light source, the highest line width resolution of a single exposure reaches 22 nm, and can be used to manufacture chips at the 10~9 nm level after combining multiple exposure technology.

This lithography equipment uses ultraviolet light with a longer wavelength and more ordinary, which can be completed in an ordinary environment, which means that the domestic lithography machine uses a low-cost light source to achieve higher resolution lithography.

The manufacturing cost is only a fraction of that of ASML's lithography machine, or even a dozen.

A breakthrough in technical principles is equivalent to when others are opening mountains and building roads, you open up a tunnel.

However, although the super-resolution nanolithography machine is good, it also has a serious defect.

That is, the exposure time is too long.

Especially in the field of chips, the EUV lithography machine can complete the task in 15 seconds of exposure, and the super-resolution lithography machine takes more than ten days.

A more vivid metaphor is that the traditional lithography machine takes a photo directly, and super-resolution lithography takes a pen and slowly draws a picture...... The difference in efficiency is huge.

……

Shanghai Microelectronics Company.

Chen Jin, who came to this company for research, saw the 22nm super-resolution lithography machine in front of him, and listened to the introduction of the company's boss Zhang Yuming.

"You said that such a good device can't be used to make chips, why can't it?"

Chen Jin frowned, this is a pity.

"It's not that it can't, it's that it's too slow! We have thought of various ways to improve its exposure efficiency, but it still takes five days to expose a photo-engraving, and the efficiency is tens of thousandths of the traditional lithography, which completely offsets our cost advantage, and is only suitable for some small-scale markets, such as military chips, optical devices, high-precision gratings, photonic crystal arrays, etc., and our super-resolution lithography machines have sold dozens of units in these fields. ”

"But large-scale chip manufacturing can only honestly develop traditional lithography."

Zhang Yuming shook his head and said.

At present, the 10nm lithography machine of Shangwei Electronics takes the 193nm light source immersion lithography route, but the manufacturing cost is too high, there is no market competitiveness, and it faces ASML's patent barriers, so it is not introduced to the market.

In terms of EUV lithography, Shangwei Electronics has cooperated with many domestic institutions and made certain breakthroughs, but it also faces patent problems.

A lot of high-precision equipment, not that the people of country Z can't break the monopoly, but the patent barriers are blocked there.

"Is there a way for you to speed up its exposure efficiency and catch up with traditional lithography machines?"

Chen Jin asked, he thinks that the route of super-resolution lithography can really continue to be applied to large-scale chip manufacturing.

"There is a way! But the implementation is too difficult, with the existing technology, it is almost impossible to achieve. ”

"Tell me what you can do first."

"Increasing the number of 'pens' is to make the lithography lens smaller! In the finger-sized lithography lens, 10,000 miniature lenses are integrated, so that these miniature lenses can work at the same time to complete the imaging of integrated circuits. ”

Zhang Yuming shook his head, and saw that Chen Jin listened seriously, so he had to continue: "The internal structure of the chip is not very complicated, each die is the same structure, each transistor is also the same, 10,000 micro lenses, complete the same work synchronously, can greatly accelerate the efficiency of super-resolution lithography." ”

"Even if we can make such lithography lenses, we can integrate ten or 100 groups of lithography lenses in one super-resolution lithography equipment to lithography on wafers with a diameter of more than 100 inches, and 100,000 or 1 million miniature lenses work at the same time, and the overall lithography efficiency is even far greater than that of traditional lithography machines!"

"But...... It's too difficult, with the current industrial manufacturing capacity, to produce such a lithography lens, at least 20 years later. ”

The problem is that 20 years later, with the improvement of industrial technology, the cost of traditional lithography machines has also decreased, and super-resolution lithography still does not have obvious competitive advantages...... Although the prospects of this road are good, it is destined to become a bright road.

"So, it's mostly just a matter of lithography, right?"

Chen Jin's eyes flashed and said.

"Yes, the main difficulty is the lens."

"It's easy to do, it's easy to do with the camera...... Xinghai Technology, there is a way to provide the kind of lens you are talking about. Chen Jin said.

Zhang Yuming was nodding.

Suddenly stuck.

Turned his head to look at Chen Jin, stunned!

He muttered, "Mr. Chen, what did you say?" ”