It's easier to kill the world's first Stepper than to build a Stepper

Tech 2023-06-20 01:18:10 Source: Network

Someone once exclaimed while watching a documentary on the development history of the atomic bomb that if scientists had a smartphone today, it would not be so difficult to calculate relevant formulas.Yes, with the rapid development of world technology, the computing power of computers that designed atomic bombs decades ago is far inferior to that of ordinary smartphones today

Someone once exclaimed while watching a documentary on the development history of the atomic bomb that if scientists had a smartphone today, it would not be so difficult to calculate relevant formulas.

Yes, with the rapid development of world technology, the computing power of computers that designed atomic bombs decades ago is far inferior to that of ordinary smartphones today. Ultimately, it is because of the revolutionary changes in the chip industry.

At present, the best Stepper in the world has been able to produce chips at the level of 5 nanometers. However, the western European and American powers led by the United States are unwilling to see China's peaceful rise, and have implemented a comprehensive ban on the sale of cutting-edge Stepper machines to China.

After years of efforts, China's Stepper has gained a foothold in the low-end field.

This situation shows that although we are still a long way from the cutting-edge Stepper, we have the ability to rely on our own market and technology to continue to develop, and even eliminate the world's No. 1 Stepper enterprise.

Stepper plays an extremely important role in the development of Semiconductor industry

Many modern people suffer from mobile phone syndrome with varying degrees of symptoms. Without a mobile phone, they will fall into a state of anxiety. Many people cannot even imagine how life would have become without electronic products such as phones, computers, cars, refrigerators, washing machines, etc. Moreover, modern chemical and agricultural production, and even service industries have generally entered the electronic age. Therefore, if there were no semiconductor industry, then, The situation in the entire society will plummet.

With the increasing demand for electronic products, the semiconductor manufacturing industry is also constantly developing and growing. As one of the key technologies in semiconductor manufacturing, lithography technology plays an important role in the semiconductor manufacturing industry.

From its emergence to today, lithography technology has many different directions and modes of technology solutions, including corrosion, copying and other different process directions, as well as optical lithography, electron beam lithography, soft lithography, direct imaging and other methods. According to different exposure methods, it can also be divided into traditional contact lithography, non-contact lithography, and so on.

So, there are many directions for the development of lithography technology, but some directions are limited by issues such as materials. In fact, there is a certain probability of technological breakthroughs in all directions in the future.

For example, the mainstream technology now is AsML's once world leading immersive lithography technology, which did not receive much attention before breaking through the manufacturing of 65nm chips.

However, after the 65nm chip was blocked, immersion technology broke through the technical shackles and became the mainstream Stepper technology until the emergence of EUV technology.

Due to the unreasonable embargo on chips by the United States against China, scientific and technological terms such as chips and Stepper have been widely spread among the public. Even laymen can say something about Stepper, which is the absolute core equipment of lithography technology.

What we love is that the chips made by Stepper are really changing human life, and what we hate is that we cannot make the world's top Stepper.

The official name of the popular Stepper is lithography alignment exposure machine or mask alignment exposure machine.

In short, it is to print extremely fine patterns from the mask to the silicon wafer through a technology similar to photo exposure transfer. This step is the core key of chip production, especially the industrial preparation of high-end chips. For the time being, Stepper is the best solution that humans can find.

Therefore, Stepper has become an indispensable equipment in chip production.

Printing patterns on small high-end silicon chips is very difficult, as the lines that make up the patterns are all in nm units and are also very complex.

For modern industrial manufacturing tools, no tool can finish such fine work. Therefore, people invented the Stepper, which can achieve the processing accuracy of nm level through exposure, development, etching and other methods.

The working standard of Stepper is so high that the machine itself is not simple. The modern high-end Stepper is a concentrated reflection of human industrial level. Not only the design idea is extremely complex, but also the manufacturing level is extremely high. It is the highest standard in the world in terms of physics, chemistry, optics, electricity, automatic detection and control.

The principles and functions of lithography machines may be unfamiliar to ordinary people, but for industry professionals, the principles of lithography machines are familiar to everyone and are not strictly confidential.

However, there are few countries and enterprises in the world that can manufacture Stepper. This is because Stepper is really "the jewel in the industrial crown". Without extremely strong economic and technical strength, countries cannot produce Stepper that meets the technical standards, and even dare not think about it.

Due to material constraints, it is difficult for Chinese Stepper enterprises to replicate the successful path of Asme

In the field of Stepper, there are four enterprises that can be counted, namely Asme, Nikon, Canon, and Shanghai Microelectronics. These four enterprises occupy about 95% of the market, but the most profitable and important for the market is Asme.

When the United States imposed a blockade on China's Stepper machine, it would frequently mention Asme, because although the United States has always advertised that its technology is ahead of the world.

However, in the field of Stepper, American enterprises have not performed well. Now in the global Stepper market, the high-end product Asme occupies 100% of the whole market, and the secondary high-end products also occupy about 90% of the market. This Asme company is a genuine Dutch enterprise.

Asme is not an old brand enterprise with a long history and deep foundation. At the earliest time, the Stepper department of Philips did not make money, so the welfare benefits were reduced again and again, which made the employees working in the department very unhappy. Everyone discussed that since the company no longer attached importance to the Stepper department, it would be better to quit.

However, we are in the business of Stepper, and we must have some feelings and feelings. Although we are dissatisfied with the welfare, most of us still don't want to leave the Stepper industry, so we talked about going out to work independently and earn money for ourselves.

After some negotiations between the employee's leader and Philips, a small semiconductor company was brought in to form a new enterprise without any Philips traces.

In this way, Asma Company, which originated from the lithography department of Philips, was established in 1984.

At the beginning, Asme did not do well. Its American and Japanese counterparts in the Stepper industry were stronger in strength and technology than Asme.

At that time, there were thousands of Stepper sold in the world every year, but there were less than 40 of them belonging to Asme Company. In addition, they were sold to Philips through the trust relationship, and the profit was extremely small. The sales won by face won't be lost someday.

However, due to the fact that Asma Company is supported by a group of departing employees, everyone is holding back their strength. Everyone is struggling with their meager income, hoping to innovate their technology and win the market. Asma Company has been working hard for 4-5 years.

At this moment, they suddenly received help from market leaders.

The Stepper industry has developed rapidly with huge investment. GCA, Canon and Nikon, which are temporarily leading in technology in the industry, have all adjusted their development strategies coincidentally.

As a result, Canon no longer pursued innovative research and development in pursuit of profit ratio, while GCA in the United States and Nikon in Japan tilted the technology tree and chose the G-line light source route, abandoning the relatively conservative I-line light source route. After being unable to produce innovative results for a long time, they gave up their technological leadership to Asma.

So, after enduring the difficult times of entrepreneurship at Asma Company, it finally began to make profits around 1993.

At the same time, in the entrepreneurial thinking of technicians, they made a high investment in research and development immediately after making profits, and also luckily chose the right wet technology for the second time after the I line light source route. The two key Technology roadmap were correct, which enabled Asme to save a lot of research and development costs, accumulate enough industry advantages, and gradually become the best enterprise in the industry.

Aside from being fortunate, the entrepreneurial journey of Asma is not uncommon, but it is very difficult for Chinese companies to replicate Asma's development path, as Asma has distributed almost all of its cutting-edge components.

For example, the lens of Zeiss in Germany and the light source of Cymer in the United States, Asma itself is only engaged in standard control, technology research and development and Stepper integration, which makes its own cost very low and the corresponding standards of products very high.

The title of high-end Stepper falls to Asme, first because Asme focuses on research and development, secondly because Asme can integrate the best product parts in the world without constraints, and finally because Asme has made the right choice continuously, which makes Asme the best Stepper enterprise in the world.

Under the strict blockade of European and American countries, Chinese Stepper enterprises cannot purchase the best products in the world, while in the sophisticated Stepper industry, it is almost far away.

The gap between the Stepper manufactured with secondary components and the highest end Stepper is huge. Therefore, it is difficult for the Stepper industry in China to replicate the success of Asme.

Although we are unable to develop the top Stepper for the time being, we have great potential in the market

Stepper is the crystallization of top industrial technology, but not all Stepper must be the most advanced and precise. In the low-end Stepper market, Chinese enterprises have gradually occupied a more favorable position by virtue of hard work and efforts, which is why European and American countries do not restrict the development of Chinese enterprises in the low-end Stepper market.

All, only oneself has, is truly there.

At present, the products of Chinese enterprises have accounted for more than 80% of the sales volume in the middle and low-end product market of Stepper, which is still increasing year by year. In addition, the innovation and research of Stepper are also in full swing. Maybe in the near future, good news will be heard that will inspire the Chinese people.

Meanwhile, due to the soaring Chinese economy, the domestic market in China is now the world's largest chip sales market, with annual sales accounting for over one-third of the world semiconductor market, reaching $192.5 billion, and rapidly increasing at a rate of nearly 30% annually.

This enables China's Stepper industry to have its own Political base, which can ensure the survival and development of enterprises in the market.

Throughout the history of technological development and progress in the world, there are many examples of industry leading enterprises being eliminated by emerging markets. The battleships that once gathered top industrial technology and served as symbols of national strength did not stand out due to technologies such as artillery caliber, warship armor, and new gunpowder. Instead, due to the rise of small aircraft, they ultimately ended up completely useless and faded out.

In the mobile phone industry, the same applies to Nokia, which once held a dominant position. In the era of feature phones, Nokia accounted for nearly 73% of sales in the mobile phone industry.

Before the emergence of smartphones, few people believed that the soaring Nokia would disappear overnight. However, after the emergence of Apple phones, popular technologies such as call quality and standby time that were once sought after by the market no longer received the same attention, and the public's attention shifted to systems, games, and intelligence.

New technologies, new materials and new models will bring different new demands. After having an unbeaten market foundation, Chinese Stepper enterprises can not copy the path of Asme's rise and dominance of the market, but they can completely copy the development ideas of Asme's emphasis on R&D and cost.

To some extent, it has broken through the international technical blockade, suppressed the development speed of Asme, and even rewritten the dominance of Asme in the field of Stepper.

For example, in terms of the development direction of Stepper technology, we can carefully carry out the research and development of EUVA and other technologies, and it is possible to develop new achievements that play an important role in the future of this field.

In the case of catching up, the gap between Chinese Stepper enterprises and Asme will be gradually narrowed through the market sales proportion, and when there are changes in technology, market, etc., the curve overtaking will be completed quickly.

With the widespread popularity of intelligent products in society, the demand for chip products is growing, and the development of semiconductor manufacturing industry is becoming more and more important. In this cutting-edge industry involving the present and future, Stepper is one of the core equipment that cannot be circumvented.

Therefore, when the United States is determined to tear the world into a confrontation camp, China cannot do without its own Stepper industry.

At the same time, lithography technology, as one of the important processes in the semiconductor manufacturing industry, its development process and technological progress have a significant impact on the entire industry.

Among lithography technologies, there are traditional contact Stepper, non-contact Stepper, double-sided alignment Stepper, and so on. Today, when technology is constantly updated and new technologies are emerging, more innovative and excellent lithography technologies may emerge.

At that time, just like the advent of smartphones, the entire direction of technological development could be changed.

So, just as electronic payment replaces cash, Big data delivery suppresses instant noodles, and Apple phones outperform Nokia phones, the value of technology and products still lies in the market. When China's Stepper industry has its own Political base, we have been in an invincible position. As long as we keep up with it and carefully repeat the development of ASML, The market will force the other party to make wrong choices and expose fatal flaws, just like the once leading Japanese companies.

Decades ago, when the United States threatened the world with a big stick of nuclear weapons, the distance between China and nuclear weapons was far greater than the distance between China and the cutting-edge Stepper machine.

Because at that time, we struggled and pursued without foundation, but now China has made certain achievements in the field of low-end Stepper, and there is not no foundation to support when climbing up. Therefore, China's Stepper industry will break through the blockade and usher in light.

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