Japanese companies "overtake" ASML lithography machines, Huawei, SMIC have already cast a hidden champion
来源丨创业邦(ID:ichuangyebang)
Author丨Barry
Editor丨Xinling
Source丨Canon official website
On November 6, according to foreign media reports, Canon is planning to reduce the price of its latest nanoimprint equipment by single digits compared to ASML's lithography machine, but has not yet decided on its final price. At the same time, Canon devices require only one-tenth the power consumption of lithography machines.
According to previous news, ASML's new flagship lithography machine is worth about 400 million US dollars (about 2.8 billion yuan). Power consumption could soar to two million watts, which is double the rated power consumption of current lithography machines.
The device can be used to manufacture chips on the 5nm process and is not based on optical technology. However, Canon CEO Toio Mitsui recently said that "any export of technology beyond 14nm is prohibited, so we can't sell it".
In fact, as early as two years ago, Huawei's Hubble Investment and SMIC's SMIC Juyuan began to invest in the nanoimprint track. Today, Tianren Micro-Nano has become the "invisible champion" of the industry, with a market share of more than 90% in the field of nanoimprint printing.
Japanese companies want to "change lanes and overtake"
ASML lithography machine
As we all know, the current chip manufacturing technology is almost all based on lithography technology.
When fabs manufacture chips, they first engrave circuit diagrams on photomasks, then use the light of the lithography machine to irradiate, and finally project these circuit diagrams onto silicon wafers coated with photoresist to form circuit diagrams.
Among them, the lithography machine is an indispensable equipment, and it is the equipment with the highest unit price, and the lithography process takes the longest.
More importantly, there are currently only 4 lithography machines in the world, namely ASML, Nikon, Canon, and Shanghai Microelectronics. At that time, Nikon and Canon once dominated the lithography market, but due to the mistake of predicting the future, with the birth of the immersion lithography machine jointly developed by ASML and TSMC, the former king was left far behind.
Nowadays, only Nikon and ASML have the ability to manufacture immersion lithography machines, while EUV lithography machines can only be manufactured by ASML. Nikon and Canon's lithography machines are mainly used in the manufacture of mature process chips, with a global market share of only about 10%, while ASML alone occupies 90% of the market share, almost in a monopoly position.
ASML is stuck in the neck of global chip manufacturers, and how to bypass the lithography machine and use other methods to change the current pattern is becoming a consensus among everyone.
FPA-1200NZ2C ultraviolet nanoimprint lithography equipment, image source: Canon's official website
In October of this year, Canon announced the launch of the FPA-1200NZ2C nanoimprint semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
According to reports, Canon's Nano-Imprint Lithography (NIL) technology can achieve patterning with a minimum line width of 14nm, which is equivalent to the 5nm node required to produce the most advanced logic semiconductors at present. In addition, with further improvements in mask technology, NIL is expected to achieve circuit patterns with a minimum linewidth of 10nm, equivalent to the 2nm node.
In fact, the concept of nanoimprint was first proposed by Professor Stephen Chou, a Chinese scientist, in 1995.
According to the data, nanoimprint is a micro-nano processing technology, which adopts the principle of micro-replication of traditional mechanical molds. To put it simply, while traditional lithography equipment transfers the circuit pattern by projecting the circuit pattern onto a resist-coated wafer, nanoimprint lithography chips are imprinted with a mask printed with the circuit pattern on the resist, like a stamp on plasticine, and then demolded to obtain a chip.
Nanoimprint lithography (ultraviolet nanoimprint) vs. optical lithography
Japanese companies, which have been left far behind by ASML, see it as the first step to achieve a counterattack. Today, Japan is leading the way in the development of nanoimprint technology products and R&D.
Canon began secretly developing nanoimprint technology in 2004, and also acquired the American company Molecular Imprint, and later cooperated with Toshiba in research and development.
Since 2017, three Japanese companies, KIOXIA, Canon, and Dainihon Printing, have started production of nanoimprint printing equipment at Kioxia's Yokkaichi plant (Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture), and plan to put the technology into practical use in 2025.
In 2021, the three companies have come up with a technical timetable for practical use, and plan to put into practical use "nanoimprints" that form circuits like seals as early as 2025.
Today, Canon has brought nanoimprint technology to market two years ahead of schedule and is also building its first nanoimprint equipment factory, which is expected to go live in 2025.
From the perspective of application range, nanoimprint technology is suitable for a wide range of scenarios, including integrated circuits, storage, optics, life sciences, energy, environmental protection, national defense and other fields.
In the opinion of Canon developer Shinichi Shouto, this nanoimprint device is a device that will create the future.
In the future, semiconductors will become more elaborate and will not only be encapsulated in smartphones, but will also be used as stickers in the future, such as on human skin or contact lenses. He believes that only nanoimprint can achieve this at the cost and speed demanded by the customer.
Among them, in the field of chips, nanoimprint lithography is not only good at manufacturing various integrated circuits, but also good at manufacturing memory chips such as 3D NAND, DRAM, etc., compared with logic circuits such as microprocessors, memory manufacturers have strict cost constraints, and the defect requirements are relaxed, and nanoimprint lithography technology is very suitable for it.
ACCORDING TO DIGITIMES, SK HYNIX WILL INTRODUCE CANON'S NANOIMPRINT EQUIPMENT IN 2023, AND IS UNDERGOING TESTING AND RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AIMING TO USE THE DEVICE FOR 3D NAND MASS PRODUCTION AROUND 2025.
However, although nanoimprint can still meet the requirements of the most advanced production processes, it is much inferior to lithography machines in terms of speed. As a result, ASML lithography machines are still the most advanced chip manufacturing machines in the world today and the equipment of choice for mass production of fast and energy-efficient chips.
Canon machines are more of an option for smaller chip makers, perhaps no longer having to go through large foundries like TSMC and Samsung Electronics to make chips. And for these foundry giants, they are also able to produce small batches of chips more easily, thus saving costs.
It can be said that the commercialization of nanoimprint technology plays an extremely key role in breaking the monopoly of chip manufacturing.
Huawei and SMIC have already entered the game and invested in a returnee scientist
At present, domestic listed companies and start-up companies are also stepping up the layout of the nanoimprint track, such as Qingdao Tianren Micro-Nano, Suzhou Suda Vig, Goertek, Suzhou Optical Helm Micro-Nano, Shengyin Optoelectronics, New Dimension Micro-Nano, Aimu Technology, etc.
According to public information, the most representative is Tianren Micro-Nano, although "only 8 years old", but it has become the head enterprise with a market share of more than 90% in the field of nanoimprint printing, Huawei, Hisense and other companies, as well as many scientific research institutes, are their users.
At present, Tianren Micro-Nano has developed a variety of high-precision ultraviolet nanoimprint equipment. According to the official website, its nanoimprint equipment can already achieve high precision (better than 10nm) on a 150/300mm substrate area, which means that the actual accuracy has reached the 10nm level.
At present, these devices are also used in the mass production of DOE, AR\VR diffraction optical waveguides (including oblique gratings), line grating polarization, metalenses, biochips, LEDs, microlens arrays and other application fields.
As a result, Tianren Micro Nano has won the favor of investment institutions and completed three financings in less than two years.
In 2021, Tianren Micro-Nano completed a Series A financing of tens of millions of yuan with exclusive strategic investment from SMIC Juyuan. In July of the same year, Huawei's Hubble Investment invested in Tianren Micro-Nano, with a shareholding ratio of about 5%. In September 2022, Tianren Micro-Nano once again completed the change of industrial and commercial information, adding shareholders such as Qianhai Fund of Funds, Shenzhen Capital Group, and Shandong Finance.
Behind Tianren Micro-Nano, it is inseparable from an industry veteran who was a returnee scientist - Dr. Ji Ran.
"One yard, two cars, a three-story building, a family of four, five days of work, and a six-figure income" is the state of Ji Ran when he used to work as a research and development engineer in Germany.
"With one passion, two skills, three Chinese languages, getting up at four o'clock every day, driving for 50 minutes, leading a team of six people, working seven days a week, doing things that others seem to be insignificant, working hard, and being very happy", this is the state after returning to China in 2015 and starting a business.
Ji Ran and the products developed by him, source: Qingdao Daily
In 2000, after graduating from the University of Science and Technology Beijing, Ji Ran chose to study abroad and obtained a master's degree and a doctorate degree from RWTH Aachen University in Germany and the Max Planck Institute for Microstructural Physics in Germany.
During his graduate studies, Ji Ran and his supervisor successfully developed the world's first soft film nanoimprint, including a full set of technology, including equipment, processes and materials.
After graduating with a master's degree in 2004, he came to Hallemapu Institute for Microstructural Physics in Germany to study for a Ph.D., and joined a Danish nanoimprint stencil manufacturer after graduation. In 2008, the world's leading semiconductor equipment company, Munich, Germany, sent an invitation letter to Ji Ran to serve as the chief expert of nanoimprint technology, mainly responsible for the development and marketing of nanoimprint equipment.
In 7 years, the company's nanoimprint technology equipment has been brought from scratch to the leading position in the industry.
Seeing the broad market prospects of nanoimprint technology, in 2015, Ji Ran resigned from a high-paying and comfortable job in Germany, refused the company's salary increase, resolutely returned to China to start a business, and founded a company called Qingdao Tianren Micro-Nano Technology Co., Ltd. in Qingdao.
However, a few years before returning to China, it was not smooth, and before 2019, it was only used by scientific research institutions, and the market space was not large. Tianren Micro Nano faced a variety of challenges such as large R&D investment and small output, and Ji once fell into a career trough, but he did not give up and still insisted on concentrating on R&D technology.
After sitting on the cold bench for several years, Ji Ran finally won the recognition of the outside world. With the growth of industrial applications, the demand is only starting to explode.
In the second half of 2019, Tianren Micro-Nano, which had been precipitated for many years, finally waited for the opportunity to break out. The diffractive optical devices used in the processing of 3D sensing by domestic equipment have become a rigid demand, and Tianren Micro-Nano seized the opportunity to enter the mass production line of diffractive optical devices and won most of the market share, thus realizing domestic substitution and becoming the "invisible champion" of the industry.
Although nanoimprint technology has the outstanding advantages of ultra-high resolution, easy mass production, low cost and high consistency, it is the most likely technical means to replace the existing lithography technology.
However, if you want to replace the "EUV lithography machine" and break the hegemony of ASML, there is still some way to go for nanoimprint.