China’s Chip-Making Industry: Steady Growth but Still Playing Catch-Up with ASML

Progress in China's semiconductor manufacturing is consistent with the introduction of new equipment, but it's still not a match for ASML. The lithography systems endorsed by China's industrial department are gradually improving, but the tools are still fixed at an advanced node stage.

China's chip-making sector is steadily progressing its local lithography equipment, based on data released by the central government. However, industry experts believe that the country still needs to make significant strides to get on par with the Dutch company ASML.

Earlier this month, the Department of Industry and Information Technology (DIIT), the regulatory body for the nation's semiconductor business, released a roster of innovative devices intended to be utilized by local semiconductor manufacturers. The list showcases a variety of tools incorporated in diverse stages of the production cycle, ranging from the construction of integrated circuits to mining and metallurgy processes. However, two particular lithography scanners have drawn global media attention, marking them as indicators of the recent advancements made in the nation.

According to the MIIT document, one of the scanning devices uses a krypton-fluoride (KrF) light source that emits light at a wavelength of 248 nanometres, with an overlay precision of less than 25 nanometres. This allows it to produce images with a resolution of 110 nanometres on wafers that are 12 inches in diameter. The second system employs a more sophisticated argon fluoride (ArF) light source. This produces light at a shorter wavelength of 193 nanometres and boasts an overlay accuracy of less than 8 nanometres, enabling it to support a production resolution of 65 nanometres on 12-inch wafers.

The department did not disclose the make of the machines or the number of wafers they can generate each hour. Significantly, the MIIT report failed to offer information on their skill for feature alignment, a factor that could hint at their level of sophistication.

From last October, the limitations imposed by Washington on exports to China have determined an acceptable degree of precision for systems that utilize a standard known as dedicated chuck overlay (DCO). This standard measures the misalignment of features between two layers created by the same machine. There is another, more complicated standard known as matched-machine overlay, which tests the alignment of patterns produced by different machines. Contemporary manufacturing facilities frequently employ various machines to imprint features on the same wafer in order to produce chips containing billions of transistors.