I took a quick crack at translating the video almost verbatim. I did rearrange the order of the info and highlighted key message in bold font. Buy it's basically a transcript of the video, not mine opinion.
I did not have the luxury of Google translator and solely relied on my rudimentary Chinese listening skill. If I made mistake translating, hope others would help point them out and make corrections.
The creator/author presented the video in 5 sections
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1.
2.
- UPrecision delivered 5 sets DWS dual stages to SMEE from April ’20 to Dec ’21.
- Note: DWS is dual stage for dry litho tool & DWSi is for immersion tool.
- The host of video therefore assumed 3-5 assembled prototype (not production) litho systems at SMEE.
- News of: 1. UPrecision & SMEE collaboration on proto I, II, & III systems along & 2. Delivery of 5 DWS to SMEE provide evidence to support assumption of at least 3 systems undergoing verification.
- UPrecision revealed SMEE’s plan to ship litho system with DWS stages around end of 2022. Customers include Yangdong, YMTC, and CXMT. Uncertainties and risks with the plan remain a possibility.
3. What can dry systems do?
- UPrecision has 327M RMB back order of DWS stages.
- SMEE must have confidence in DWS stage otherwise would not issue such big order
- Each DWS is ~20M RMB (but this couldn’t be verified).
- So, SMEE may be planning 15-20 dry Lito tools in the near future
4. Why isn't it for immersion?
- UPrecision indicate DWS can support needs of 65nm litho systems.
- Creator of video believes it may be possible to improve beyond 65nm capability, but these are not the rumored 28nm node litho system
5 What is the status of immersion development?
- Answer: Very simple, it (DWSi?) has not been (finished) developed yet.
- The 02 project target is an immersion litho tool, not dry tool.
- So, in another word, UPrecision has not realized its 02 project commitment yet.
6.Any concerns?
- Two Immersion hood has already been developed by Cheer and delivered to SMEE.
- But the immersion dual stage that goes hand-in-hand with the immersion hood is still in development.
- Status of immersion dual stage development:
- UPrecision had built 20 development prototype systems & 85 test units as of December 2021.
- It is unclear if the 20 development prototype system refers to actual dual stages or modules. Combining with news of only 2 immersion hood, creator of video hypothesize it’s 20 module. Because having 20 immersion stage to go with 2 immersionhood just isn’t logical.
- UPrecision development cost is high in 2019 & 2020 then drastically reduced in 2021. Author thinks this is sign that major milestone had been over taken so the development cost decreased drastically.
- Filing for 02 project subsidy is based on projected expenses and raw material cost. Same trend of reduced subsidy filing observed in 2021. This is another clue suggesting development of immersion dual stages has entered mid-testing(?) phase.
- Yes. The dual stages interferometer supply source is Zygo, an American company. There is risk of supply being cut off. As there's no alternate domestic option, this is currently the biggest risk.
So, the good news: The (litho system) has finally reached volume production. The bad news: it's not THE (28nm) tool that everyone was hoping for. But, the first step has been taken so the next step will not be far away.
--- end of "transcript" ---
Thank you very much for your effort! Well this is very important information because clarifies how is the current situation with SMEE, and although maybe not what people expected, it returns a much more realistic scenario and this is a good thing IMO.
So, this is what I have made up my mind regarding SMEE
1. SMEE officially shows on his site 3 machines: SSA600/20 (ArF laser), SSC600/10 (KrF), SSB600/10 (i-line lamp) , but these machines have been there since years, already developed and sampled to some customer, but for some reason (not production ready?) have been retired and are now more or less a dead-end. No active development, not in use anywhere.
2. Real first production machine will come out hopfully at the end of the year and will be a dry dual stage machine for 65nm (ArF) node.
3. Dry dual stage will be used also for KrF and i-line lamp variants, maybe due to easier standardization, so to have a single setup for all the machines. For a not so big firm like SMEE it definitely makes sense not waste time/resources on cost optimization in this phase of furious catch-up with ASML. So once you have a solution that works and could scale to 28nm and beyond, simply use that and iterate on that.
4. Immersion machine will possibly follow next year in 2023 and this will be the famous 28nm machine.
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