China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals.
State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month.
Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers.
Photo: AFP
MIIT’s claimed advances last week suggest that homegrown Chinese companies are beginning to make headway in developing more sophisticated machines, although SMEE and its peers have a long way to go to catch the likes of ASML Holding NV.
The resolution of the gear determines the scale at which integrated circuits can be imprinted onto silicon, and ASML’s best lithography machines now have a resolution of about 8 nanometers.
One approach to improve the density of transistors is etching lower-resolution patterns multiple times, as used by Huawei Technologies Co (華為), which helps narrow the gap.
Still, the US-led trade campaign to limit China’s access to advanced chipmaking equipment has stifled its competitiveness in developing nascent technologies such as artificial intelligence, which require the most advanced semiconductors.
In its note, the MIIT also named a slew of additional home-developed chip-related gear it wanted to see put into wider use, including oxidation furnaces and dry-etching gear.
SMEE has developed a lithography machine that can be used to make 28-nanometer chips, key state backer Zhangjiang Group (張江集團) declared last year.
However, it is unclear whether that machine has gone into production and how it relates to last week’s notice from the MIIT.
While it is widely believed that China would struggle to move far beyond its current level of sophistication — as exemplified by Huawei’s 7-nanometer Kirin mobile chip introduced a year ago — the lack of transparency has elicited concern in Washington about the effectiveness of its sweeping export controls on China and pressing the Netherlands for tighter restrictions on ASML’s China business.
China relies on ASML’s immersion deep ultraviolet lithography systems to advance its chipmaking technology, as the country has not yet been able to develop similarly capable equipment, but under US pressure, ASML is now barred from shipping to China.
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