I told you that Nikon litho tools use Gigaphoton light sources, basically no US components, and their sale is still going to be banned. And yet you still continue to believe this is just about US content in the tools. We are way past that point.
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Effective July, Japan will impose export controls on six categories of equipment used in chip manufacturing, including cleaning, deposition, lithography and etching."
Nikon, Canon, and TEL use all Japanese components, and they are still going to be banned.
Also, contrary to what ASML said initially, there is plenty of evidence that sales of the 1980i tool will also be restricted.
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The new U.S. plan, which may come in late July, could deny licences for more kinds of ASML machines to ship to certain Chinese chip facilities, including one owned by China’s largest chipmaker SMIC (0981.HK), on the basis that they include U.S.-made components. That gives Biden reach over not only Dutch firms but also suppliers like Germany’s Trumpf and Zeiss, which make lasers and lenses respectively."
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DigiTimes reported that ASML is mulling the release of a special version of its deep ultraviolet lithography (DUV) tool that will comply with the latest U.S. export rules and that could be shipped to Chinese customers without a license. The device would enable companies like SMIC and Hua Hong to make chips on 28nm-class nodes and thicker, but it will not allow them to use more advanced nodes. However, the company has since denied this report.
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ASML complies with all applicable laws and regulations, and that it is not designing a system specifically for China and will not respond further to rumors and speculations," ASML said in a statement.
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The lithography tool in question is the Twinscan NXT:1980Di, and currently this is the least advanced immersion scanner that ASML still makes. The machine has 1.35 numerical aperture optics and is capable of <38 nm resolution, which is enough for 7nm-class and even more advanced nodes. In fact, this scanner — originally released in 2016 — it was used by TSMC to develop its 7nm-class process technology.
Cutting down this device and increasing its minimum supported resolution to prevent SMIC and other Chinese chipmakers from creating sub-28nm process technology is theoretically possible. Keeping in mind that the lion's share of SMIC's revenue comes from production nodes that are thicker than 28nm, it is likely that Chinese companies would still be interested in procuring such tools."
All the news point to there going to be an impeding ban on all immersion lithography. Period. Basically all litho tools 45nm and over.
