The manufacturing difficulty of a photolithography machine mainly lay in three key equipment: light source, dual workpiece platform, and photolithography machine lens.
In terms of light source, there was no doubt that the Z country was the strongest in the world. This conclusion could be drawn from the fact that the Z country was clearly ahead of the M country in terms of laser weapons.
A small photolithography machine light source was not a problem for the Z country's researchers.
The dual workpiece platform was not so easy. It was said that the dual workpiece platform product developed by ASML was based on the maglev plane motor. The motion control precision of the mask platform could reach 2 nanometers, which greatly improved the precision and efficiency of chip processing.
A foreign expert once arrogantly said, "There is no other organization in the world that can produce such an advanced dual workpiece platform."
However, in less than five years, a research team from the Z country's Jinghua University developed a dual workpiece platform with a motion control precision of around 2 nanometers and successfully passed the acceptance test.
The key technical indicators had reached the technical level of the same kind of photolithography machine in the world.
The dual workpiece platform was also conquered by the Z country.
Finally, there was the photolithography machine lens. In recent years, the field of optical lenses had made rapid progress. There was even an optical satellite manufactured by a civil satellite company that had a resolution that reached a glance of aircraft carriers, warships, and vehicles on the ground. It could even take pictures of planes taking off and rockets launching. The clarity was amazing.
The performance of civil optical satellites was already so exaggerated. Of course, the military version was even more impressive.
This reflected the Z country's progress in the field of optical lenses.
The photolithography machine lens was naturally not a problem for the Z country's researchers.
Therefore, the three core equipment used to manufacture photolithography machines, the light source, the dual workpiece platform, and the photolithography machine lens, were all mastered by the Z country.
This was also the reason why ASML opened up the sales of photolithography machines to the Z country. A strict blockade in the field of photolithography machines would only lead to the Z country achieving breakthroughs at a faster speed.
If a rabbit was forced into a corner, it would take its life.
The Z country's photolithography machines had not caught up with the most advanced foreign standards. On the one hand, the market share was firmly controlled by others. On the other hand, taking the same technical route would inevitably infringe on ASML's intellectual property rights and lead to patent lawsuits.
In addition, the sale of some key equipment was banned.
The development of domestic photolithography machines had always been tepid.
Even so, in order to bypass foreign patent barriers, the Z Institute of Optoelectronics found another way and developed a brand new photolithography machine.
Super-resolution nano-photolithography machine.
This photolithography machine used a completely different technical route from traditional photolithography equipment. It used a 365-nanometer near-ultraviolet light source, and the maximum linewidth resolution of a single exposure could reach 22 nanometers. After combining multiple exposure technology, it could be used to manufacture chips of the 10-9 nanometer scale.
However, this photolithography equipment used a longer wavelength, more common ultraviolet light, and could complete photolithography in ordinary environments. This meant that the domestic photolithography machine used a low-cost light source to achieve a higher resolution photolithography.
The manufacturing cost was only a fraction of ASML's lithography machine, maybe even a tenth of it.
A breakthrough in the level of technical principles was equivalent to opening up a tunnel while others were building a road in the mountains.
However, although the super-resolution nanolithography machine was good, it also had a serious flaw.
The exposure time was too long.
This was especially true in the field of chips. The EUV photolithography machine could complete the task in 15 seconds, but the super resolution photolithography machine needed more than 10 days.
A more vivid analogy would be that the traditional photolithography machine directly took a photo, while the super resolution photolithography machine took a pen and slowly drew a picture … The difference in efficiency was huge.
…
Shang Hai Microelectronics.
Chen Jin, who came to this company for research, saw the 22-nanometer super-resolution photolithography machine in front of him, and listened to the introduction of the company's CEO, Zhang Yuming.
"You said that such a good equipment can't be used in the production of chips. Why not?"
Chen Jin frowned. This was too much of a pity.
"It's not that it can't be used, but it's too slow! We've thought of various ways to improve its exposure efficiency, but it still takes five days to expose a photolithography. The efficiency is a few tens of thousands of traditional photolithography. This completely offsets our cost advantage. It's only suitable for some small-scale markets, such as military chips, optical devices, high-precision gratings, photonic crystal arrays, and so on. We've sold dozens of our super-resolution photolithography machines in these fields. "
"But for large-scale chip production, we can only develop traditional photolithography honestly."
Zhang Yuming shook his head.
At present, the 10-nanometer photolithography machine of Shang Microelectronics took the route of immersion photolithography with a 193-nanometer light source. However, the manufacturing cost was too high, and there was no market competitiveness. Moreover, it faced the patent barrier of ASML, so it was not launched into the market.
In terms of EUV photolithography, Shang Microelectronics had cooperated with many domestic institutions and achieved certain breakthroughs. However, they were also faced with patent issues.
It was not that the Z people could not break the monopoly of many high-end equipment, but the patent barrier was blocking them.
"Do you have any way to speed up its exposure efficiency and catch up with traditional photolithography machines?"
Chen Jin asked. He felt that the route of super-resolution photolithography could really be continued and applied to large-scale chip production.
"There is a way! But it's too difficult to achieve. With the current technology, it's almost impossible to achieve. "
"Tell me about your method first."
"Increase the number of 'pens' and make the photolithography lens smaller! Integrate 10,000 micro-lenses in the photolithography lens the size of a finger. Let these micro-lenses participate in the work at the same time to complete the photolithography of the integrated circuit. "
Zhang Yuming shook his head. Seeing that Chen Jin was listening attentively, he had no choice but to continue, "The internal structure of the chip is not very complicated. Every die has the same structure, and every transistor is the same. 10,000 micro-lenses completing the same work at the same time can greatly increase the efficiency of super-resolution photolithography.
If we can even make such a photolithography lens, we can integrate 10 or even 100 sets of photolithography lenses in one super-resolution photolithography device. We can carry out photolithography on a wafer with a diameter of more than 100 inches. With 100,000 or even 1 million micro-lenses working at the same time, the overall photolithography efficiency will even far exceed that of traditional photolithography machines!
But … it's too difficult. With the current industrial manufacturing capabilities, we will have to wait at least 20 years before we can produce such photolithography lenses. "
The problem was that 20 years later, with the improvement of industrial technology, the cost of traditional photolithography machines would also decrease. Super-resolution photolithography still did not have an obvious competitive advantage … Although the prospects of this path were good, it was destined to not be a bright path.
"So, the main problem is just a problem of the photolithography lens, right?"
Chen Jin's eyes sparkled as he said this.
"Yes, the main difficulty is the lens."
"It's easy, the lens is easy … Xing Hai Technologies has a way to provide the lens that you mentioned," Chen Jin said.
Zhang Yuming was nodding his head.
Suddenly, there was a pause.
He turned his head and looked at Chen Jin with a stunned expression!
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