Recently, the world's first 2nm extreme ultraviolet lithography machine came out in the Netherlands, which marks a new era in chip manufacturing. Weighing up to 180 tons, the "chip making machine" integrates more than 100,000 parts and achieves an unprecedented 2nm process accuracy.
With its appearance, Huawei, which has dominated the smartphone field for many years, is afraid that its high-end models will also withdraw from the stage of history and become a cheap machine under 100 yuan.
What is a lithography machine?
To talk about lithography machines, let's first look at the manufacturing process of chips. The core of the chip is an integrated circuit, which is densely packed with transistors and wires. Lithography machines play a vital role in the fabrication of these miniature circuits.
To put it simply, a lithography machine is like a giant camera. It uses the irradiation of light to reduce the size of the circuit design pattern onto a silicon wafer with high accuracy, just as an old camera can project an image onto film. Then, through a series of complex chemical treatments, the circuit pattern is finally formed. It can be said that without the precise "exposure" of the lithography machine, chip manufacturing is simply unimaginable.
2nm process: the "ultimate goal" of chip manufacturing
In the long history of chip manufacturing, the reduction of process nodes (process algebra) has been the most important technology roadmap for this industry. Back in the 90s of the last century, lithography machines could only make chips in the 90 nanometer range. After the 21st century, various generations of lithography machines have successively launched 65nm, 45nm, and 32nm processes. Subsequently, the advent of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology has enabled the chip process to break through to below 20 nanometers.
And 2nm is undoubtedly the "ultimate goal" for this industry. Because it is very difficult to go down to 1 nanometer or even 0.5 nanometers. The 2-nanometer process has extremely high requirements for lithography machines, and only ASML in the Netherlands has mastered this core technology in the world. This 2nm lithography machine uses a shorter EUV wavelength that "shrinks" the circuit pattern to just 2 nm.
In contrast, Huawei's current most advanced Kirin 9000 chip only uses a 5nm process. This is still a big gap compared to 2 nanometers. This is also destined to be a late-mover disadvantage in chip manufacturing, and it is difficult to catch up in a short period of time.
180 tons of weight, 100,000 parts
This 2nm lithography machine has attracted attention not only because of the level of craftsmanship it represents, but also because of its amazing size and complexity.
It weighs 180 tons and is the size of a double-decker bus. The light source system, lighting optical system, projection optical system and other parts are as high as two floors of the house. Such a large mechanical system requires a dedicated magnetic levitation base to support it and prevent the impact of vibration on image quality.
What's even more shocking is that this "machine empire" has integrated as many as 100,000 parts! There are a total of 40 control systems in the whole machine, and the accuracy reaches the nanometer or even picometer level. To build such a large and sophisticated system, you can imagine how difficult it is to design and manufacture.
ASML's 2nm lithography machine has become the commanding heights of this industry. In China, Shanghai Microelectronics, the largest lithography machine manufacturer, is actively developing 7nm lithography machines, and there is still a big gap from the 2nm process. If the domestic lithography machine wants to make further breakthroughs, there is a long way to go.
A new breakthrough in chip technology
The advent of the 2nm process means that the global chip industry will usher in an important technology node upgrade. At the same time, there are also many cutting-edge technologies in chip materials, packaging, design, etc.
For example, replacing traditional aluminum interconnects with copper interconnects can greatly improve the conductivity of chip leads; 3D stacked packaging technology can stack multiple chips vertically, greatly enhancing chip functionality and bandwidth. In addition, AI technology has begun to be widely used in chip design, which can automate design and verification.
The emergence of these technologies will provide strong support for the further improvement of chip performance. Experts predict that under the joint action of various technologies, the performance of chips in the future will be increased by dozens of times compared with the current one, and it will truly enter the era of "supercomputing".
Huawei's machine emperor is in decline, and Snapdragon dominates
In the field of consumer electronics, the progress of chip technology directly affects the mobile phones in people's hands. Over the years, Huawei has maintained its leading position in the high-end mobile phone market. Its Kirin series processors use a self-developed architecture and have led the performance test rankings of Android flagship chips for many years.
But that has been reversed as Huawei has been cut off from its supply chain for cutting-edge chip-making technology. The latest Snapdragon 8th generation chip is already significantly ahead of the Kirin 9000 chip. Experts believe that this gap is likely to continue to widen in the future. At that time, Huawei's high-end models can only be downgraded to a low-end position, and the original 1,000-yuan flagship may only be reduced to a 100-yuan cheap machine.
Although it may seem exaggerated, it is a realistic trend. That's how Nokia, the former mobile phone hegemon, fell from the top. For Huawei, breakthroughs in chip technology are crucial. Otherwise, it will be extremely difficult for it to remain competitive.
Looking forward to the future, driven by the 2nm process, the global chip industry will usher in an important technology upgrade cycle. This will not only revolutionize the computing power of electronics, but will also reshape the competitive landscape of the industry.
Companies in the heart of technology innovation will gain a first-mover advantage. And those tech giants that were ahead of their time could also decline rapidly in this change. Whether it is for the industry or enterprises, technological innovation will be the key to life and death.
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