Chinese semiconductor industry

BoraTas said:

It seems China can manufacture 300 mm silicon wafers using domestic equipment already. I found this today:

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The article is apparently translated from Chinese so there are hard to understand parts.

"my country's first new-generation large-size integrated circuit monocrystalline silicon growth equipment achieved a successful trial production in Xi'an. This is jointly developed by Xi'an University of Technology and Xi'an Eswell Equipment Technology Co., Ltd. The length of the monocrystalline silicon rod manufactured this time is 2.1 meters and the diameter is 300mm, which is 12 inches, which marks a breakthrough in the key technology of 12-inch silicon wafers in the field of chip manufacturing in my country and solves the problem of "stuck neck".

According to the Science and Technology Daily, the research and development of the project is led by the team of Professor Liu Ding from Xi'an University of Technology. Professor Liu Ding has worked intensively in the field of semiconductor silicon single crystal growth for many years. He has presided over a number of major national science and technology projects and key projects of the National Natural Science Foundation. In recent years, he has made technological breakthroughs and obtained a number of landmark results.
According to Eswell’s introduction, the production of silicon single crystal rods first requires putting high-purity polysilicon into a quartz crucible, heating it to above 1400°C, and melting it into a silicon solution, and then immersing the seed crystal into the silicon melt, seeding and setting the shoulders. , Shoulder turning, equal diameter growth, finishing and other steps to complete the drawing of a single crystal silicon rod. After the monocrystalline silicon rod is produced, the ingot is cut into silicon blocks with a length of 300-400 mm, and then a sheet with a thickness of about 1 mm is obtained by wire cutting, which is then polished and cleaned to obtain a high-quality polished sheet .

Xi'an Eswell Silicon Wafer Technology Co., Ltd. is a domestic large-scale monocrystalline silicon manufacturing backbone enterprise. Since 2018, it has cooperated with the team of Professor Liu Ding of Xi'an University of Technology. The company is able to manufacture 12-inch silicon wafers with no dislocations, no native defects, ultra-flat and excellent nano-topography for the production of integrated circuit chips below 28nm. In addition, the company also provides wafer processing, cleaning and epitaxy services.
At present, Eswell has a silicon industrial base in Xi'an, which will be constructed in two phases, with a designed production capacity of 500,000 pieces per month in the first phase. The successful production of this large-scale monocrystalline silicon growth equipment will help meet the urgent needs of my country in the development of integrated circuits and get rid of the situation of being restricted by others."

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@BoraTas Sir the 28nm domestic equipment processes is almost 100% completed since last year, this post of yours is the last pieces. Now Sir we're waiting from @WTAN @Oldschool @foofy and others on news regarding the progress on the domestic 14nm equipment, I read some post that it is already at 60% ready and hoping to be completed this year. And what I've learned from our esteem members if the 14nm processes is finished going down to 7nm is much easier and faster, so the target date of 2022 for 7nm indigenization is about right.

ansy1968 said:

@BoraTas Sir the 28nm domestic equipment processes is almost 100% completed since last year, this post of yours is the last pieces. Now Sir we're waiting from @WTAN @Oldschool @foofy and others on news regarding the progress on the domestic 14nm equipment, I read some post that it is already at 60% ready and hoping to be completed this year. And what I've learned from our esteem members if the 14nm processes is finished going down to 7nm is much easier and faster, so the target date of 2022 for 7nm indigenization is about right.

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I think this is wrong. What matters is when something is delivered to customers, not in the labs.

The 28nm machine will be introduced to limited customers on Q4 2021 for limited/risk production and by Q2 2022 the company should have fixed all the bugs and start full production and start selling it to everyone.

Lab != Commercial Customers

ansy1968 said:

@BoraTas Sir the 28nm domestic equipment processes is almost 100% completed since last year, this post of yours is the last pieces. Now Sir we're waiting from @WTAN @Oldschool @foofy and others on news regarding the progress on the domestic 14nm equipment, I read some post that it is already at 60% ready and hoping to be completed this year. And what I've learned from our esteem members if the 14nm processes is finished going down to 7nm is much easier and faster, so the target date of 2022 for 7nm indigenization is about right.

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Is there a target date for 7 nm indigenization?

BoraTas said:

Is there a target date for 7 nm indigenization?

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@BoraTas Sir none so far from official sources but from our esteem members late 2022 or early 2023 is the projected date. Sir SMIC is planning to mass produce its N+2 (7nm) later this year, and also its Beijing FABS (will be using all domestic equipment ) will be coming online. If the indigenized 14nm is finished this year as plan then the timeline seems right.

voyager1 said:

I think this is wrong. What matters is when something is delivered to customers, not in the labs.

The 28nm machine will be introduced to limited customers on Q4 2021 for limited/risk production and by Q2 2022 the company should have fixed all the bugs and start full production and start selling it to everyone.

Lab != Commercial Customers

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@voyager1 bro pardon my optimism but I had that feeling there is a breakthrough, we're talking China here.. hehehe, It maybe misplace and have to temper my expectation but for me China always delivered.

ansy1968 said:

@voyager1 bro pardon my optimism but I had that feeling there is a breakthrough, we're talking China here.. hehehe, It maybe misplace and have to temper my expectation but for me China always delivered.

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I am optimist too but things still take time. 28nm IC equipment is coming Q4 2021, Q2 2022 full production. Things are looking good, no need to be anxious

@WTAN also confirmed this, some pages back

having euv 7nm chip print is more difficult to have stealth fighters or bombers? No Way

styx said:

having euv 7nm chip print is more difficult to have stealth fighters or bombers? No Way

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@styx Sir SMIC 7nm N+2 is using ASML 1980i DUVL using multiple patterning, Liang Mong Song SMIC CEO is the one who pioneer it during his days at TSMC. and sir N+1 is at 8nm node

SMIC's product yields using 14nm process said to have reached TSMC's level​

March 10, 2021
China's leading contract chipmaker SMIC's 14nm process yields have reached 90-95 percent, tying TSMC's equivalent process, according to a March 10 report by financial website .
SMIC is at full capacity for all processes, with orders for some mature processes already scheduled for 2022, the report said.
SMIC said on March 3 that it had reached a $1.2 billion product purchase order with ASML of the Netherlands.
On March 4, ASML said the agreement related only to DUV lithography. The agreement was signed on Jan. 1, 2018, and runs initially through Dec. 31, 2020, and was extended on Feb. 1, 2021, to the end of December 2021.
SMIC's equipment supply for mature processes such as 14nm and 28nm has already been licensed by the US, as previously reported.

SMIC co-CEO Liang Mong Song previously said the company's 28nm, 14nm, 12nm, and N+1 technologies have entered volume production at scale, and 7nm technology development has been completed and can enter risky volume production in April this year.
Liang said the most critical and also the most daunting 8 technologies of 5nm and 3nm have been launched and can enter the development stage when the EUV extreme ultraviolet lithography arrives.
SMIC went public in China in July last year, and 40% of the listed proceeds were used for the 12-inch chip SN1 project, 20% as reserve funds for advanced and mature process R&D projects, and 40% as supplementary working capital.
SMIC owns or holds several 300mm and 200mm wafer fabs in Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Shenzhen, and Jiangyin.

Merging Dept of Microelectronics and Nanoelectronics and the Department of Electrical Engineering, focusing on memory, reconfigurable computing, EDA, semiconductor equipment, and materials.




China's top university Tsinghua University established the School of Integrated Circuits on April 22, a move after "integrated circuit science and engineering" was established as a first-class discipline by China's Ministry of Education in July last year.

Qiu Yong, president of Tsinghua University, said the country's key core technologies must be in its own hands, which will help make a greater contribution to the development of China's independent innovation in integrated circuits.

Qiu said the School of Integrated Circuits was established to focus elite efforts on key core technologies and accelerate the cultivation of high-level innovative talents needed in China.

He said that only by increasing the training of high-level talents and strengthening the development of the discipline can support China's move toward an integrated circuit power.

The School of Integrated Circuits will be built from the former Department of Microelectronics and Nanoelectronics and the Department of Electrical Engineering, focusing on memory, reconfigurable computing, EDA, semiconductor equipment, and materials.

The disciplinary configuration of the School of Integrated Circuits will be based on physics, chemistry, and materials science, involving electronic information, instrumentation science and technology, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering.

This is not a simple name change, but a revolution, a rebirth, said Wu Huaqiang, dean of the School of Integrated Circuits.

manqiangrexue said:

Where did you read enraged from? There's a wide range going from LOL to enraged, and your question has no point at all.

You might have never PMed Zeapkul but you know you've PMed me and quite frankly it's sad that you can't even debate honestly about who you obviously are yet you talk about credibility. I'm here with the account I've used to talk to you from the beginning but you've gone through more lives than an ally of cats, pretending to be a semiconductor expert, a landlord, a pilot, etc... You want credibility yet you exhibit no honesty at the core of who you are.

Don't worry about it; it would be an improvement from what Tidalwave told me.

agaubsr is a new word. But accusing old members of being each other is an old habit of yours out of desperation, right? If I remember, you said something similarly funny like how Deino is Terran?

That's not an answer to anything in my post.

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ZeEa5kpul

Chinese students have been totally corrupted by US tech companies training for many years already. So when they become professionals they totally depending US tech. Many of their minds already corrupted.
I think this is government oversight. It simply doesn't care what's happening in the education sector. It let US companies unlimited reach inside the education sector, Right now, its deAmericanize drive now, Don't you think government should mandate Universities stop corrupting chinese student with US tech training? I have not heard any announcement they are doing it.

what's going on? Is chinese government still allowing this type mind corrupting training continue?

I mean, come on, US side already banning chinese engineering students coming to US to study.