China discovers new laser lithography technology that could help become the leading 5G chipmaker

[beijingwalker]

China discovers new laser lithography technology that could help become the leading 5G chipmaker
ByJeet
Jul 13, 2020

Ever since the US-China trade war began, there have been several major developments in technology, especially those related to smartphones. The ban on Huawei by the United States and the constant lobbying with other countries to do the same, led to several Chinese companies, including Huawei, to become self-reliant.

Now, it seems that China has started a process using which it could become the leader in 5G chipmaking. The Suzhou Institute of Nano-tech and Nano-Bionics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Sinano), and the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, have made important discoveries related to ultra-high precision laser lithography.

For those who are unaware, lithography machines play quite a crucial role in the production of chips as they etch patterns on wafers for placing transistors. One of the biggest breakthroughs has been EUV that creates extremely thin markings.

However, the discovery is still at the theoretical state and it could take years as well as plenty of money to make this a reality. Compared to others, China is still behind when it comes to manufacturing chipsets, which is often outsourced to the likes of TSMC.

Nonetheless, the discovery of a new process laser lithography by China is a major step forward for the country. ASML, which is the global leader in lithography and holds a monopoly in the market, was recently blocked by the Dutch government from selling its machines to the Chinese customers, after pressure from the United States.

China’s largest foundry — SMIC — still produces chipsets on a 14nm node process while most of the latest chipsets are being manufactured on 5nm node, including the upcoming Apple A14 and Huawei’s next-gen Kirin SoC.

But if the development regarding chip manufacturing in China keeps going at a rapid pace, combined with proper investments, SMIC and similar companies in China could soon start using the latest technology for making chips. This will present an advantage to China and the smartphone makers in the country such as Huawei. In fact, SMIC is reportedly planning to raise $2.8 billion in Shanghai’s Star Market for its growth.

https://www.gizmochina.com/2020/07/13/china-new-lithography-5g-chipmaking-discovery/

 

[atan651]

Don't antagonize the Chinese, they will come back with a vengeance.

 

[scherz]

one step backward but 3 steps forward.

 

[Daniel808]

Chinese team develops new 5 nm ultra-high precision laser lithography processing method
2020-07-13 23:01:19 GMT+8 | cnTechPost


A Chinese team recently published a research paper in the Nano Letters describing a new type of 5 nm ultra-high precision laser lithography processing method.

The research was conducted by Zhang Ziyang, a researcher at the Suzhou Institute of Nanotechnology and Nanobionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Liu Qian, a researcher at the National Nano Center.

The team has designed and developed a new three-layer stacked thin film structure. For the inorganic titanium film photoresist, they employed a dual laser beam cross-stacking technique. By precisely controlling the energy density and step size, they achieved a breakthrough of the 1/55 diffraction limit, reaching a minimum characteristic line width of 5 nm.

The research team used this super-resolution laser direct writing technique to achieve large-scale fabrication of nano-slit electrode array structures.

It is worth mentioning that the research team has developed a fully intellectualized laser direct-writing device that exploits the nonlinearity of laser and material It is different from the traditional technology path of shortening the laser wavelength or increasing the numerical aperture.



This breaks the restriction that the receptor material is organic photoresist in the traditional laser direct writing technique. It can use a variety of receptor materials, greatly expanding the application of laser direct writing scenarios.

https://cntechpost.com/2020/07/13/c...recision-laser-lithography-processing-method/


So basically they can bypass EUV Lithography from ASML with this Technology to make 5nm Chips?

Crazy

 

[FairAndUnbiased]

Direct write lithography has a major weakness: throughput is low. See weaknesses of e-beam lithography.