Several people are questioning the credibility of the author, but that type of criticism only leads to pointless back and forth mud-slinging. Some preliminary research can show that most of these claims are unsubstantiated.
SMEE's website can be found
. Just go to Products > Lithography to see what they are offering (they offer more than just lithography machines).
- 200 Series Stepper - Supports manufacturing for AM-OLED and TFT-LCD.
- 300 Series Stepper - Supports manufacturing of HB-LED, MEMS and power devices.
- 500 Series Stepper - Supports manufacturing for back-end advanced packaging of ICs.
- 600 Series Stepper - What most people are interested in (front-end manufacturing of ICs).
- SSB600/10 280nm resolution using i-line mercury lamp
- SSC600/10 110nm resolution using KrF excimer laser
- SSA600/20 90nm resolution using ArF excimer laser
Next we have had news articles about the progress of their 28nm lithography machine.
The timeline is still 2021-2022 for the 28nm DUV lithography machine. A 28nm DUV puts SMEE 8-10 years behind not 20 years. A 7nm DUV would put them 5 years behind.
The IC front-end manufacturing is not SMEE's only business. Quote from the following article "Meanwhile, SMEE has made a great deal of progress in the back-end advanced packaging and LED/MEMS/power devices area. In the former segment, the company holds over 80% of the domestic and nearly 40% of the global market; its share in the global LED/MEMS/power devices lithography equipment industry is around 20%." (
). SMEE is far from a company with "0 success".
No definition of success is given by the author. AMEC's plasma etching tools being used in TSMC's 5nm manufacturing line isn't considered a success?
The 5nm plasma etching tools were verified by TSMC in 2018.
AMEC's dielectric etching equipment market share increased from 12% in 2017 to 22% in 20Q1.
Kingstone's website can be found
. Under products the company website lists the iPV-2000 and iPV-3000 ion implanters. If you look under their development history you can see that the iPV-2000 reached mass-production in December 2016. The iPV-3000 was released in July 2017. Note that the iPV-6000 was released in August 2019, but is not listed in the products. After 2019 they stopped updating the English version of the page. You actually have to switch to Chinese to get the 2020 updates. It mentions that their IC ion implanter went through verification and received initial orders in late 2020.
Besides Kingstone Semiconductor the author omits any mention of the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) ion implanter. The 2020 article about it's development is here:
Followed by the 2021 article about its production:
Hwatsing Technology website is
. It's CMP products are also listed there.
Sizone Technology website is
. It's CMP products are also listed there.
Shenyang Piotech website is
. The website is in chinese only and lists its PECVD, ALD and SACVD products.
I don't know where the author got the impression that those companies claimed to produce PVD machines. The author also missed the fact that Shenyang Piotech produces CVD and ALD machines for some reason? For PVD products you can find them in the NAURA-Akrion website.
Again no definition of success is given by the author, so we can't even properly debate anything. Just go to the NAURA Akrion website to see their products:
.