Chinese semiconductor industry

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tokenanalyst

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Institute of Microelectronics releases open source thin film transistor TFT process design kit (PDK)​



Thin film transistors are widely used in flat panel displays, memories, sensors and other fields. Among them, A-Si TFT devices have the advantages of low-temperature technology, simple preparation process, and high yield, and have become the mainstream technology for LCD active drive circuits. Currently, A-Si TFT industrial production technology continues to develop toward larger screen sizes and lower production costs. PDK based on A-Si TFT technology is a bridge connecting flat panel display foundries, EDA manufacturers and IC design companies. The PDK kit can help customers shorten the design cycle, ensure the correctness of chip functions, and improve product design competitiveness.

  Facing the demand for EDA in the advanced manufacturing of integrated circuits in the post-Moore era, the Institute of Microelectronics has teamed up with scientific research institutions and related enterprises to use the openDACS chip manufacturing EDA tool -SIG5 for process simulation, device simulation, computational lithography, mask manufacturing, and yield. Conducted research on a series of EDA tools such as analysis and optimization, DTCO , device modeling and PDK , established an EDA software framework for integrated circuit manufacturing, open sourced the basic model source code and PDK toolkit, and supported the EDA tool open source community's simulation analysis and analysis of advanced device processes. Circuit design. In 2022 , the Institute of Microelectronics will open source the thin film transistor compact model OD_TFT version for the first time; in 2023 , the Institute of Microelectronics will open source the thin film transistor process PDK A-Si_TFT version.

  In the A-Si TFT process PDK kit developed by Microelectronics , in addition to conventional devices such as thin film transistors and capacitors, it also includes customized units such as electrodes, pads and through holes. Other functional modules include process files, device models, physical verification rules ( DRC/LVS/XRC ) and pixel array circuit design examples. The kit also provides technical documents such as " asiTFT Design Rule ", " asiTFT PDK reference manual ", " Custom IC Design Reference Flow OA asiTFT " and " asiTFT Demo Introduction " to help designers design, simulate and verify circuit systems. The A-Si TFT process PDK kit has good compatibility with mainstream EDA software and can support analog / mixed-signal IC design. The main functional modules of the PDK are shown in the figure below.

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tokenanalyst

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Zhongke Haoxin completed Pre-B round of financing​


Haoxin announced the completion of its Pre-B round of equity financing and received tens of millions of yuan in investment from industrial capital. In the nearly five years since its establishment, Haoxin has been adhering to the concepts of pragmatism, change, struggle, and win-win. From product research and development to mass production and shipment, it has been forging ahead and developing rapidly in the field of domestic DSP, and has received widespread attention and favor from the entire industry. , the success of this financing also reflects Haoxin’s strong strength and leading position in the field of RISC-V DSP!

This round of financing will be used for the research and development, production and marketing of the HX2000 series third-generation floating-point DSP products. Up to now, Haoxin has launched more than 30 Haawking-HX2000 series DSP products in 10 sub-series, as well as supporting mature development tool chains and solutions. It has mass-produced and shipped millions of pieces, and has been recognized by customers in many domestic fields. The products It has been introduced into the supply chains of multiple leading automotive and energy customers.

Founder and Chairman Dr. Li Renwei said that in the past five years, Haoxin people have relied on their perseverance and entrepreneurial spirit to break through ecological and intellectual property barriers in the DSP field, and have won the trust of customers with reliable and stable products, laying the foundation for Haoxin in this industry. a leading position in a field. Along the way, although there have been many obstacles, we have achieved fruitful results, which is inseparable from the strong support of the company's shareholders and partners. In the future, Haoxin will continue to unswervingly delve into the field of RISC-V DSP and use good technology and products to give back to everyone!​

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tokenanalyst

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Yingjie Electric’s total orders for RF power supplies exceed 90 million!​

Yingjie Electric disclosed the latest research minutes, saying that since October this year, RF power supply orders have shown an increase in batches, and the current total orders for RF power supply have

On December 7, Yingjie Electric disclosed the latest research minutes, saying that since October this year, orders for RF power supplies have shown an increase in batches. The current total orders for RF power supplies are more than 90 million, most of which are semiconductors. RF power supply order on the device side. Compared with the previous testing phase, the order volume is now more obvious. The company will further strengthen its research and development work, strive to cover all customer machines as soon as possible, and realize the localization of all RF power supplies. Judging from the current situation, the overall progress is still relatively good.

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Yingjie Electric pointed out that if we only look at the current market demand for RF power supply, there is a market demand of several hundred million. Downstream customers of domestic equipment manufacturers are also expected to further increase equipment purchases. The market demand for RF power supply may expand to A billion or more. After the company completed domestic substitution in the field of radio frequency power supply, it has formed a new business increase. At the same time, the company has also prepared production capacity and personnel reserves for further expansion in the future.

It further stated that radio frequency power supplies are customized products and need to be produced in conjunction with customer orders. The company has done a good job in early research and development, production capacity, and production personnel arrangements, and has won the trust of customers. If the quality of mass production can be guaranteed, more products will be obtained. The more customer orders, the better the final result will be. Judging from the current situation of R&D and batch supply of RF power supplies, the company is at the forefront compared to other competitors, and its batch supply capabilities also have certain advantages compared to other competitors.

Regarding orders from the silicon carbide industry, Yingjie Electric said that the power supply supporting business for silicon carbide equipment was actually obtained through import substitution three or four years ago. From the initial orders of tens or several million to the current annual order of nearly 100 million yuan The order growth rate is relatively fast. The logic is that the market demand for silicon carbide as a third-generation semiconductor material has increased, requiring more equipment, and the demand for power supplies has also increased significantly.

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proelite

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Seeing some articles saying that SMIC is making 5nm 9000C chips for Huawei. That's a mistake right? Those are stockedpiled chips from 2020.
 

tphuang

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Seeing some articles saying that SMIC is making 5nm 9000C chips for Huawei. That's a mistake right? Those are stockedpiled chips from 2020.
stockpiled chips. 9006C are not from SMIC.
 

Blitzo

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I

I find the argument given in below posted article more compelling than your flat denial. It really looks like China has crossed the 5nm barrier.

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Just because an article floats a possibility that is more reflective of one's own preferences or ideals doesn't mean it is more compelling.

We all know that SMIC is working on 5nm which no one disputes, but the likelihood that they already have one ready for use in consumer use on a commercial scale is very unlikely at this current stage.


A teardown of the chip would better provide confirmation as to its source, but it is much more prudent at this stage to recognize it is likely not a domestic SMIC product
 

donjasjit

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Let me quote the relevant paragraph from the tomshardware article-

“There are many similarities between the Kirin 9000 and the Kirin 9006C, which some might argue indicates Huawei is leveraging stock it obtained three years ago for its current PCs. While this could be true, keeping a massive quantity of premium processors (which were expensive to make on TSMC's then leading-edge node) for three years doesn't make a lot of sense, especially bearing in mind that the original Kirin 9000 featured a built-in 5G modem (something the Kirin 9006C presumably lacks) and could be used for a premium smartphone rather than for an inexpensive laptop. As such, it is possible that the company has turned to SMIC to create the processors.”

The logic of this argument makes a lot of sense.
 

Blitzo

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Let me quote the relevant paragraph from the tomshardware article-

“There are many similarities between the Kirin 9000 and the Kirin 9006C, which some might argue indicates Huawei is leveraging stock it obtained three years ago for its current PCs. While this could be true, keeping a massive quantity of premium processors (which were expensive to make on TSMC's then leading-edge node) for three years doesn't make a lot of sense, especially bearing in mind that the original Kirin 9000 featured a built-in 5G modem (something the Kirin 9006C presumably lacks) and could be used for a premium smartphone rather than for an inexpensive laptop. As such, it is possible that the company has turned to SMIC to create the processors.”

The logic of this argument makes a lot of sense.

I have read the article, there is no need to quote the specific part because it fundamentally does not refute the big challenge which is whether SMIC CURRENTLY is already able to produce 5nm at scale necessary for consumers.

Fundamentally, if we are weighing up between "SMIC is already capable of producing 5nm at scale for consumers" versus "SMIC has retained/kept stocks of TSMC 5nm products from multiple years ago" -- the latter is far more likely and reasonable at this stage in late 2023, in context of what we know about SMIC's progress in the 7nm and 5nm domains over this year.


If there is a teardown of this chip that shows it is SMIC, then great.

But currently, we are obliged to take the more conservative of the two possibilities simply because of the lack of correlating and supporting indicators suggesting that SMIC has a 5nm process ready for consumer use.



Let's put it this way -- right now, absent confirmation of where this process comes from, would you prefer to assume that this is a SMIC 5nm process and then later have it discovered that actually it's a TSMC 5nm process in a teardown? Or would you prefer to assume this is a TSMC 5nm process and then later discover that it's actually a SMIC 5nm process.
 
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