The Tokyo Semiconductor Equipment Show has a history of many years, and this year, because Xinxin announced that its lithography machine business line has broken through the 40nm process, which makes the Tokyo Semiconductor Equipment Show particularly eye-catching.

The name Xinxin is not unfamiliar in the semiconductor industry, and even has a kind of famous taste, because this company, like its founder Zhou Xin, has occupied an important position in the industry after its rapid rise.

TSMC is extremely uncomfortable suppressed by it, ARM's mobile chip architecture has become the mainstream of the new chip, Texas Instruments, Samsung, Intel and other old giants have bet on mobile chips are also because of the new chip.

Because of Xinxin's status and industry reputation, everyone believes that Xinxin has indeed broken through the 40nm process, especially friends who pay more attention to another thing.

"How does Xinxin do it?" At the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Semiconductor Show, Masashi Komatsu asked Hiroto Sato next to him in a low voice.

Masashi Komatsu is the executive director of Neon EUVA and the president of Komatsu Corporation, a light source manufacturer.

Under the leadership of Neon Sankeisha, Nikon, Canon, Komatsu Corporation, Toshiba and Mitsubishi are all members of EUVA, and the full name of EUVA is the Association for the Development of Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography, which is the light with a wavelength of 13.5nm.

Therefore, after Xinxin announced that it would conquer the 40nm process, the members of EUVA did not have much sense of crisis, because once they conquered the extreme ultraviolet light, then the 65nm process all the way to 5nm would be unimpeded.

Even from the standpoint of EUVA, that is, the position of the association and the position of Komatsu Corporation, Masashi Komatsu is a little eager for the new chip to be a real breakthrough, that is to say, the kind of breakthrough that can be used in large-scale production to ensure the yield rate, not a laboratory breakthrough.

Because Xinxin has conquered the 40nm process, it means that EUVA will get more resource support, and Komatsu Co., Ltd., as the only light source manufacturer, will naturally get more resource support.

As for Xinxin's complete defeat of neon in the lithography machine market, Masashi Komatsu never thought of this possibility, and in his opinion it was impossible.

However, in the future, ASML was able to use its technological advantages to achieve a complete reversal in just three years, and Nikon and Canon could never turn over, which was not a market-oriented behavior at all, but an act led by Americ Ken Capital behind ASML.

Why, because after ASML took the lead in overcoming the 40nm process by the infiltration method and obtained the production verification of Intel, they held a symposium on the future of lithography, at which 10 major chip manufacturers were invited, that is, their main customers.

At the meeting, ASML said that they have successfully overcome the threshold with the help of the infiltration method, that is, the threshold for the continued development of the chip process, and hopes that everyone will support the infiltration lithography machine as the only technical route in the future, to put it bluntly, only ASML is supported.

6 of the 10 chip manufacturers present represent that your immersion lithography machine is no problem, but we also hope that the 157nm dry lithography machine will continue to develop as a backup technical route, because in this way, once the immersion lithography technology route is blocked, we have a second option.

This is a very reasonable request, from the perspective of the time, no one can guarantee that there is absolutely no problem with the immersion type, and the development of the process can be smooth and unhindered.

As a result, ASML criticized the technical representatives of these chip manufacturers at the meeting for having no foresight, and the reference value of their views is extremely limited.

ASML organized this technical seminar, but after the seminar, the results of the discussion of the meeting were completely useless, and under the dominance of the capital behind it, Nikon and Canon's 157nm dry lithography machines lost the entire chip foundry market dominated by Western capital.

Masashi Komatsu and his Komatsu Co., Ltd. also disappeared from the industry in the process, and were never heard from again.

"Most likely, the infiltration method is used, that is, adding liquid between the lens and the silicon wafer, and the person in charge of their lithography machine line is Dr. Lin Benjian, who has always insisted that the infiltration method is the key to a breakthrough in semiconductor technology.

It's just not known how they bypassed the difficulty of the infiltration method. Hiroto Sato, who is the head of EUVA's R&D team in Gotemba City, said.

After the failure of the lithography machine, Hiroto Sato also experienced a long period of loss and silence, and compared with Komatsu Masashi, he finally came out and even changed his research direction to re-active in the academic world.

At this time, they are high-spirited and pointing out the new core lithography machine technology, and they will not know that the future of the neon lithography machine industry will only be more cruel.

Nikon and Canon couldn't even eat the leftovers this time.

"I'm also curious, because Xinxin first bought our lithography machine technology, and if they want to use the infiltration method, they need to completely reconstruct the entire objective optical path.

This is no small job.

This requires a lot of manpower and material resources. Masashi Komatsu said.

As a light source manufacturer, he was well aware that Nikon's technology was critical, and that it would be too difficult to adopt the immersion type.

The biggest difficulty was the modification of the optical path of the objective lens, and the last objective lens of Nikon's technology was curved, and there was a natural incompatibility between the curved lens and the immersion lens.

While the last lens of ASML's 193nm lithography machine is flat, ASML's objective lens system can be seamlessly integrated with the immersion system.

Hiroto Sato said, "Every time I talk to Dr. Hayashi at the IEEE Optics Conference, he is very proficient in how to use light sources in the field of lithography machines.

Presumably, under his leadership, coupled with Xinxin's talent reserve and resource investment, it is a completely feasible technical route to reconstruct the entire objective lens optical path. ”

"No, it's not because of Lin, Xinxin can transform the optical path of our objective lens, it's because of the full support of Zeiss." Jeff White said that he was Nikon's new CEO and didn't know when he sat next to Sato and Masashi Komatsu.

Both Masashi Komatsu and Hiroto Sato hurriedly greeted Jeff White.

After a brief greeting, Jeff White said: "Although I don't want to admit it, the research and development speed of Xinxin in the field of lithography machines is far faster than we expected.

One of the reasons is that Xinxin itself poached a large number of R&D personnel from Nikon and Canon, and they obtained the full cooperation of Zeiss is a more important reason.

For a new set of optical pathways, without the cooperation of Zeiss, Xinxin would not have been able to reconstruct the entire objective optical path in just two years. ”

Jeff White was very helpless, he was not Nikon's CEO when Nikon made the decision to sell the technology to Xinxin, and when he reviewed it later, he thought that if he was the CEO of Xinxin at that time, he would definitely not sell the technology to Xinxin.

Nikon, far away in Tokyo, doesn't know how amazing Newman is, only Jeff White, who is in Silicon Valley, has become the most heard celebrity in Newman's daily life since his meteoric rise.

The chatter of the three came to an abrupt end after Lin Benjian took the stage, and everyone wanted to hear about the technical route of Xinxin.

We added a layer on top of the wafer photoresist and used this medium to shorten the wavelength of the light source to within 150nm. Therefore, without changing the wavelength of the lithography machine, the NA is expanded in disguise, so that the wavelength of 193nm can be equivalent to the wavelength within 150nm! ”

"At the same time, because there are a large number of chip manufacturers in the industry, they will produce a large number of different chips on a large silicon wafer, and the immersion lithography method can avoid the high mask cost."

Lin Benjian showed the superiority of the immersion lithography machine through some pictures and experimental results on the stage, and the talk was very boring, and a large number of technical contents were mixed with the technical advantages of the immersion lithography machine.

Even so, none of the representatives of enterprises from different aspects of semiconductors in the audience were distracted, and everyone was listening attentively to the technical route of Xinxin.

"I said that immersion is viable, and we shouldn't invest any more money in dry lithography machines.

Immersion lithography is the future.

If we continue to invest in the technological superiority of Nikon and Canon, we will never have a chance to surpass Canon and Nikon.

Xinxin has such self-confidence, so they have successfully achieved transcendence in just a few years. ”

"The problem now is that Xinxin has taken the lead in achieving a breakthrough in the immersion lithography machine, one is that they have achieved a breakthrough, one step is slow, one step is slow.

It will take us a year to come up with a similar immersion lithography machine at the earliest.

Once Xinxin registers the patent for the key technology, one year is not enough, and three to five years is completely possible.

After the launch of a new device, it will take 1 to 3 years for the manufacturer to work together to adapt, and the new chip will have more time to improve the problem and improve the yield than you will have more time than you to mass-produce the new chip, which will make it more difficult for us to surpass, one step behind, step by step.

Now if I go to the immersion pose, how do I feel like I'm dying faster? ”

ASML's technical experts regret that they had the opportunity to take the immersion lithography route, but this opportunity was personally rejected by their internal decision-making, and no one in the industry took this technical route, so why could they get through?

When the news of Xinxin and Zeiss cooperating in the development of immersion lithography machine reached ASML's ears, they had already determined the direction of technology research and development.

"There is no way, we can only give up the market in the past few years, give it to Xinxin, and wait until EUV to turn around.

It's the only way to go. ”

"Alas, do we really still have the money to burn for so many years?

In other words, what if the new chip completes the research and development before us on the EUV lithography machine? ”

"Impossible, absolutely impossible, we have even developed a prototype, Xinxin did not participate in the preliminary demonstration of EUV LLC, and the national level of China has not invested in the research and development of this part at all.

No matter how powerful Newman is, he can't change the rules of the physical world, and if it were the Internet world, I believe Newman might be able to do it. ”

EUV is also the extreme ultraviolet lithography machine, the wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light is only 13.5nm, and ASML's laboratory already has the world's first EUV prototype.

After seeing that Xinxin has broken through 40nm, ASML's technical experts put their hopes on EUV, which they believe will completely lose the suspense of this competition.

To be precise, it is not they who think so, but all manufacturers in the industry who think so, who will win the final victory in the field of lithography machines first, and the neon giants established EUVA research and development under the leadership of the neon industry and economic department.

Ameriken established EUV LLC under the leadership of the Department of Energy, with three of Americacan's top national laboratories: Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories to conduct technical demonstrations.

After the technical demonstration is completed, the industry will realize it.

Therefore, Ameriken and Neon are desperately investing in EUV, and the defeat is only temporary, and whoever conquers EUV first will end the war.

Xinxin's lead is only a phased lead.

But it is still very painful, after the market for advanced manufacturing processes is lost, these companies have to rely on government blood transfusions to feed, which is a lot of money.

"We welcome everyone to use Xinxin's immersion lithography machine, and companies with procurement needs can contact Xinxin."

After Lin Benjian's speech, the audience burst into thunderous applause, and even the technical representatives of direct competitors ASML, Nikon, and Canon did not skimp on their applause.

In this era of economic globalization, chips should be the industry with the deepest economic globalization, and any little technological progress will benefit the entire industry.

Xinxin successfully found the light below the wavelength of 150nm by the infiltration method, so can Nikon first develop a dry lithography machine at 157nm, and then use the light with a wavelength of 157nm to do the infiltration method to further shorten the wavelength?

Therefore, the technological progress of Xinxin is also helpful to direct competitors, not to mention manufacturers in other fields of chips.

"How's the photos and videos going? After the filming was done, we had to go backstage to interview Dr. Lin, and then go back to the hotel to cut out the film and send it back.

This news is going to be broadcast on the news program at 7 o'clock tonight. ”

"It's done.

You can rest assured that my technique is absolutely perfect, and all the key elements have been captured.

It's the first time I've seen so many expressions on neon people's faces.

When Dr. Lin said that they had completed the technical verification, the neon people's faces turned green.

When I had to applaud again at the end, I wanted to laugh. ”

"It's good to shoot it, say less words, Xiao Neon knows a lot of Chinese."

"It's interesting to say that this kind of occasion is interesting, always go to foreign exhibitions, and Chinese enterprises don't speak, just sit down and listen to people's words, and then come to us to be interviewed and stand and say two words, what we want to achieve technological breakthroughs, we want to innovate this kind of cliché.

It's really boring to go out on a job, and I'm willing to let me run at my own expense.

Just now, when I went back to the backstage to get the equipment and was about to come to Dr. Lin for an interview, the neon media asked me in Chinese if I could help him make an introduction and interview Dr. Lin.

How could I have encountered this kind of thing when I went out to the field before. ”

"Okay, don't be poor, adjust the camera, and we're ready to go to Dr. Lin.

There must be a lot of people looking for him today, and we can't delay people's time. ”

This is the international news team of Yang Ma, and the technological breakthrough in the field of lithography machine achieved by Xinxin is a rare technological breakthrough in Huaguo at present, which is completely worthy of special mention.

This gold content is much higher than that of Hanxin, which is just a chip design.

Therefore, Yang Ma sent a whole team to make a documentary, and tonight's news program is just a short piece of real-time news.

(End of chapter)