Global monopoly of technology

Another big bottleneck of extreme ultraviolet lithography technology is undoubtedly photoresist.

The current status of the industry is that the supply of semiconductor materials is very concentrated, and photoresist technology is considered to be the most concentrated material in the world, and the barrier is also the highest, and Japan and North America together occupy 95% of the market share.

Samsung Electronics Semiconductor is arrogant, but it is also very powerful, but in fact it depends on the face of the Japanese. If Japanese semiconductor materials suppliers get stuck on the material, Samsung Semiconductor will lie down.

Temporary technical exchanges and discussions are taking place in the lounge. An engineer in charge of photoresist technology methodically said: "In 248nm and 193nm lithography, the mainstream has been using organic chemical amplification for more than two decades. Photoresist CAR, which is a photosensitive polymer used to make patterns."

Under the extreme ultraviolet lithography machine, the photonics special plane CAR photoresist and produces photoacid, and then the CAR photoresist undergoes a photoacid catalytic reaction in the process after exposure, and then produces a photolithography pattern.

The principle is such a principle.

The engineer continued: "Using CAR photoresist for extreme ultraviolet lithography technology, but because the energy of the light source has been greatly increased, the previous practical results show that different and complex results will occur, which will affect the yield of the chip. ."

Luo Sheng nodded and said: "At the EUV technology node, this is not only our problem. Competitors will also encounter similar problems. They still have to open up new ideas. If you want to come to the current industry, other semiconductor equipment and material manufacturers will try their best. Various methods, or propose new photoresist technology solutions, so that extreme ultraviolet lithography technology can be used continuously, thereby extending the life of Moore's Law."

The engineer just said again: “In terms of new ideas, many teams in our project team are experimenting with the new EUV photoresist in various directions, such as liquid metal oxide photoresist, and dry Research and development of photoresist and other directions."

Luo Sheng thought for a while and said in a deep voice: "We can't do it ourselves. The new EUV photoresist technology should be contended by a hundred schools of thought, and use the strategy of cultivation to cultivate an ASML in the photoresist field."

Hearing this, Li Chunsheng immediately said: "That will cost several times the cost."

Luo Sheng said, "I have invested so much in the semiconductor industry. There is no way out except to bite the bullet and go to death."

Speaking of this, I immediately looked at Li Chunsheng and asked: "By the way, who are the domestic suppliers of semiconductor photoresist?"

Li Chunsheng: "There are several companies, but their existing technology and market share are not even worse than the top international level. Relatively speaking, several well-known photoresist manufacturers are Kehua, Jingrui, Nanda Optoelectronics, Rongda Photosensitive, and Shencheng Xinyang. For photoresist research, the Blue Coast Laboratory has technical exchanges with several manufacturers."

Luo Sheng nodded and didn't say much. He immediately looked at the person in charge of the photoresist project and asked: "What are the specific developments in the new ideas?"

"The project team is carrying out demonstration research on negative photoresist. Its molecular size is one-fifth of CAR organic photoresist. The point is that the light absorption rate can reach four to five times that of CAR. Precisely and accurately shape the circuit diagram."

Luo Sheng checked from the internal database and nodded to himself: "Dry photoresist technology can be focused on investment. This new EUV dry photoresist technology replaces the traditional CAR photoresist for semiconductor processes. The evolution is promising and may be a huge breakthrough point."

The advantage of this new technology is to improve the acuity and resolution of extreme ultraviolet lithography technology, and it can reduce the original use of photoresist by five to ten times, bringing significant results in cost savings.

The cost of chips born under new technology nodes is very high, especially in the early stage.

At present, the industry is dominated by organic chemically amplified photoresist CAR and inorganic photoresist n-CAR, both of which use liquid photoresist technology. The research on new EUV photoresist technology is not only the Blue Coast laboratory, but also overseas manufacturers. Actively promoting the development of new technologies, after all, extreme ultraviolet lithography technology is a big trend, this is a fact that will not change.

But only the new EUV photoresist technology of the Côte d’Azur Lab is based on dry precipitation technology, which is considered an original technology.

The current mainstream photoresist technology is CAR, that is, liquid photoresist is spin-coated on the wafer with a coating machine and removed after exposure to a solvent.

The new technology of the Côte d’Azur laboratory is different from the traditional liquid photoresist coating method. It changes the chemical reaction in the cavity, allowing the dry photoresist to be manufactured in chemical vapor deposition or atomic layer deposition, and then Removed by etching process.

The advantage of this is that the sensitivity and resolution of imaging and the resolution of extreme ultraviolet lithography exposure can be improved.

More importantly, the cost of process wafers can be improved. These advantages are the embodiment of more advanced processes.

Luo Sheng closed the data panel, put aside the work computer, and said: "As long as the dry photoresist technology is completed, we can form two camps with Japanese equipment materials, which can break through the existing semiconductor technology rules. The key is that the entire industry will also bring about profound changes. There is nothing left to say. We have invested so much. Apart from victory, there is no second way to choose."

Everyone on the scene nodded silently, and the fighting spirit was flourishing. The current breakthrough gave the team great confidence.

It is true that apart from victory, there is no second way to choose, and I believe that victory is inevitable.

The interim meeting discussion was over, and Luo Sheng personally decided to allocate an additional 450 million yuan to the photoresist project team of the Riviera experiment to speed up the research and development progress and parallel multiple lines.

After leaving the Blue Coast Laboratory, Luo Sheng called Yao Jianhong to his office half an hour later.

"It's time for the purple star lithography machine to come out. Once it is officially exposed, not only the domestic integrated circuit field will cause huge waves, but the global integrated circuit industry will set off violent turbulence. The industry structure will enter a reshuffle situation. The industry situation is inevitable. ."

Luo Sheng touched each other's fingers and said, after a while, he said: "The breakthrough of lithography equipment is naturally an unprecedented victory, but for the entire semiconductor industry chain, we still have not opened up the high-end area, and 60% of the technical links are still controlled by others. , But the Côte d’Azur product line cannot be broken. In short, we still need foreign chip supply for some time."

Now it is impossible to effectively describe spending money like running water, and the income of the Côte d'Azur cannot have a cliff-like collapse.

ACC game consoles, Azure smartphones, ieP tablets, and another PC business that is about to be launched must create a stable source of income to ensure profits to maintain the stability of the company's current hematopoietic cycle.

Yao Jianhong lowered his head and thought for a moment, then looked at Luo Sheng and said, "What do you mean..."

Luo Sheng stared at him: "Our actual situation now is that 60% of the technical links are still stuck, and we may have to wait another three to five years for a complete breakthrough. This is an objective fact and technological research breakthroughs. There is also a certain degree of contingency, not to say that as much money I put in, there will be output as much as I put in."

Yao Jianhong nodded, but did not answer, but continued to listen.

Luo Sheng added: "Fantasy is true, true and false. The breakthrough of the Zixing lithography machine is a fact. This is our biggest bargaining chip and can bluff foreigners."

At this point, Luo Sheng couldn't help but smile comfortably, Yao Jianhong thought about it a little bit, and after a moment of tasting Luo Sheng's remarks, he suddenly became clear.

"Mr. Luo, what do you mean is that the announcement is not only a breakthrough in extreme ultraviolet lithography technology, but also breakthroughs in all key technical links of the entire semiconductor industry chain, or breakthroughs are only a matter of time, in fact, not all A breakthrough, but because even the extreme ultraviolet lithography machine has been fixed, this will give outsiders a false impression, and other technical links have basically been opened up, so that they can gain the leadership of the negotiation."

Luo Sheng smiled without saying a word, but nodded in approval.

Looking at this issue from the perspective of a competitor, since the technical ban has no effect on Luo Sheng, it is meaningless to continue the ban.

In fact, there is a gamble. The bet is that international semiconductor manufacturers believe that Luo Sheng's domestic semiconductor industry chain plan has successfully broken through the technology blockade.

However, what seems to be a gambling component actually has its inherent logic to follow.

Those international manufacturers also have to eat. Seeing that the market share is about to be lost, the original unbreakable covenant will inevitably be cracked due to differences in interests.

Even the extreme ultraviolet lithography machine has been developed, and it is still slightly ahead of ASML. This is an objective fact. For those semiconductor manufacturers in the world, the results they have seen are shocking. It is unparalleled.

This is Luo Sheng's opportunity, but also an opportunity for the domestic semiconductor supply chain.

In addition, for many years, Luo Sheng has always emphasized in public occasions to be in line with international standards, actively open to the world, walk on two legs, not only independent research and development, but also continue to purchase foreign high-end chips to maintain uninterrupted communication with the world.

Therefore, even if the Zixing lithography machine comes out and the domestic semiconductor industry chain is opened up, it will continue to cooperate with foreign chip manufacturers.

This is all clearly stated before, so now the Azure Coast has exposed the Zixing lithography machine, and then exaggerated the fact that it has opened up the key technical links of the domestic semiconductor industry chain, but I will continue to cooperate with foreign manufacturers, as long as you Sell ​​me the chip and I will buy it.

International competitors will also believe that what he said is true.

Because the market is large enough, and Luo Sheng also said before that some money can be made by himself, but if not, it should be left to others.

True and false, false and true, those international manufacturers will involuntarily link up these series of issues for comprehensive analysis, and the result is that their technical advantages are indeed gone, and they will not put down their proud heads. There is no money left.

Think about the scale of the annual chip industry import in the Greater China market exceeding US$300 billion. It used to be necessary to import, but now the Chinese can solve it by themselves.

This is disastrous news for some overseas ICT companies, especially some semiconductor companies in Silicon Valley. If they don’t have the Greater China market, they will starve to death. A large number of semiconductor manufacturers will go bankrupt and go bankrupt. The factory can resist but the business decline is inevitable.

So they dare not gamble because they can't afford to lose.

It is precisely because of this that Luo Sheng dare to gamble, and he is 100% sure that he will win. Since he is 100% sure that he can win, it cannot be called a gambling. Instead, it should be said to be strategizing.

Luo Sheng said to Yao Jianhong: "Lao Zhang, you send someone to shoot a promotional video for the Zixing lithography machine. You will show up some of the technical nodes and achievements of breaking the monopoly and blockade. The shots are more beautiful, but the core technicians are all mosaics. There are also some core technologies that are also mosaics, and then hyped, the purple star lithography machine is the ace of the ace of the Jedi comeback. It is not an exaggeration to say that this has a decisive factor for the next negotiation, don't mess it up."

"Leave it to me."

Yao Jianhong nodded heavily. For a moment, he couldn't help but slapped his thigh, and said viciously: "Now that labor and management can slap the table in front of each other at the negotiating table, they also dare not speak, I dare The person who pats the table does not dare to leave. If I pat the table and leave, the opponent has to beg me to change offense and defense."

Holding technology in one hand and sitting on the US$300 billion Greater China market in the other, this level of confidence is unprecedented.

Luo Sheng couldn’t help laughing at Yao Jianhong’s reaction. He understood his emotions at the moment. He resigned from Silicon Valley more than ten years ago, gave up the high salary there and took the initiative to apply for a job on the Blue Coast. He saw that there is a domestic company that really wants to A technology company that wanted to make a big splash in the field of integrated circuits, at that time the company had just started.

For the Côte d’Azur, this breath has been held for eleven years, and for Yao Jianhong personally, he has held it for more than 20 years.

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