Chinese semiconductor thread II

[tokenanalyst]

Orders are expected to increase by 300%, and the construction of the second phase of wafer line will be promoted

On February 8 , Longteng Semiconductor issued a statement saying that the company 's power semiconductor orders will increase threefold this year, and the construction of the second phase of the 8-inch production line is being accelerated.

In an interview, Chen Qiaoliang, executive president of Longteng Semiconductor, said that the company is making every effort to accelerate the construction of the second phase wafer production line for the 8- inch power semiconductor device manufacturing project, which will fill the gap in this field in Shaanxi Province.

Longteng Semiconductor will continue to deepen its transformation and upgrading, comprehensively covering the research and development, design, materials, wafer manufacturing, IGBT module packaging lines, as well as market expansion and application promotion of power semiconductors, aiming to achieve deep integration and coordinated development of the entire industry chain.

In terms of orders, during the Spring Festival, Longteng Semiconductor's production lines maintained 24- hour uninterrupted operation to fully meet market demand. Qiu Songjie, general manager of the company's manufacturing division, said that the production tasks in the first quarter have been close to saturation, and orders are currently scheduled for six months later. It is expected to increase by more than 2 times year-on-year, and the annual year-on-year growth is expected to reach more than 300% .

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[tokenanalyst]

SPPE-GAN: A novel model for Die-to-Database alignment and SEM distortion correction framework​

Abstract​

In the inspection stage of semiconductor manufacturing processes, hotspots detection is a critical task for enhancing yield. Die-to-Database (D2DB) technology allows for the comparison of actual chip images from electron beam inspection (EBI) with design databases, enabling quick identification of potential hotspots. However, D2DB faces challenges with imprecise localization on high-density chips, frequently necessitating intricate manual corrections that diminish detection efficiency. Additionally, scanning electron microscope (SEM) images can suffer from field distortion, compromising detection accuracy. To address these challenges, we propose an unsupervised SEM pattern extraction model (SPPE-GAN). This model adeptly integrates local, global, and keypoint information to precisely identify pattern locations within SEM images, subsequently transforming them into graphic data system (GDS) style images. Building on SPPE-GAN, we employ scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) detection and the fast library for approximate nearest neighbors (FLANN) algorithm for precise matching between SEM images and their corresponding design layouts. After matching, optical flow methods are applied to indirectly correct inherent distortions in SEM images. In experiments on industrial datasets, our framework achieved over a 10% improvement in contour intersection over union (IoU) compared to assessments by experienced engineers. Moreover, under the same matching algorithm conditions, the SPPE-GAN outperformed widely used supervised methods like pix2pix and current state-of-the-art unsupervised style transfer techniques.

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[supercat]

Top Chinese chip designer goes back to Tsinghua University to teach the next generation specialists.

Top chip designer Sun Nan leaves US and finds ‘room to play’ in China​

Tsinghua University highlights professor who has returned to China to train next generation of chip experts and tackle tech problems

Tsinghua University chip expert Sun Nan's return to China went largely unnoticed in the wave of Chinese scientists returning from abroad - that is, until last week, when the prestigious university in Beijing put a social media spotlight on the professor who has helped create more than 50 cutting-edge chips in a little over four years.

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[tokenanalyst]

Never let a good crisis go to waste.​

Manufacturing should be self-reliant, Saimet firmly empowers domestic substitution​

On the evening of the 2nd, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the U.S. Department of Commerce issued an "enhanced version" of new export control regulations, adding 136 Chinese entities and 4 overseas subsidiaries of Chinese entities to the Entity List. More semiconductor products such as semiconductor equipment and high-bandwidth memory chips were included in export controls, and core software tools were also blocked.
In the current environment, there is no absolute safety since the first ban. However, misfortune often brings good fortune. The domestic substitution of semiconductors is accelerating, and the more bans are imposed, the stronger they become. A group of excellent companies are building a solid backbone for China's semiconductors.

1 Upgrade again and face challenges together
The sanctions directly target semiconductor equipment manufacturing, materials, memory chip HBM, Fab factories, and even EDA software tools and some investment institutions are included. For the semiconductor industry, any obstruction in any link will affect the progress of the entire industry. The US hopes to restrict or delay the development of my country's semiconductor industry in the form of "patching". However, by 2024, my country's semiconductor manufacturing industry has grown its own wings, strong local companies are accelerating breakthroughs, and domestic substitution is gradually getting better. "The overall impact is controllable and will not have a substantial impact on the company's operations." Many companies involved in the ban have issued similar statements. The sword of Damocles is hanging over our heads, but we also have our own plan B. Among the companies involved in the ban are customers served by Symet, who took early warnings, established firewalls early, and unswervingly chose domestically developed systems to protect the core of the factory, effectively reducing the risk.

As a leading semiconductor CIM company, Saimet is the only domestic manufacturer with mass production cases in the field of 12-inch semiconductor [silicon wafer production, wafer manufacturing, packaging and testing]. The fully automated CIM solution developed by Saimet can provide dozens of software products such as MES, EAP, SPC, YMS, APS, RTD, etc., to help semiconductor factories realize production process automation, ensure efficient allocation of resources, and provide strong data support for production decisions.
As domestic substitution reaches a critical moment, a group of "pure-blooded" companies like Saimet have emerged, joining hands with the semiconductor industry to meet challenges and jointly shoulder the mission of independent control of technology and localization of the supply chain.

2. Accumulate strength and then develop, and intelligent manufacturing should be self-reliant

The security of the semiconductor supply chain has become the core of the international game. Sanctions are both a crisis and an opportunity.
Nowadays, my country's semiconductor industry is gradually breaking through the bottleneck of high-end technology. Through continuous R&D investment and technology accumulation, related companies have gradually made certain breakthroughs in independent and controllable technology. Especially in the fields of storage, communication chips and intelligent manufacturing, a complete industrial chain has been gradually established.
Since its establishment, Saimet has been committed to independent and self-reliance around semiconductor intelligent manufacturing, creating the PlantU series of products to support factories in building intelligent manufacturing systems with high availability, high efficiency, stability, scalability and flexibility. Through a variety of analysis, reporting and KPI functions, it analyzes massive data, monitors anomalies, predicts and analyzes, helping to maximize production and operation efficiency, ensure the stability of production quality, and lay a solid foundation for the development of my country's semiconductors.

SinoMet has worked with customers to successfully implement a number of benchmark projects. Specifically:
● Build a fully automated CIM platform for a 6-inch fab to boost both production and yield
● Replaced the MES system for an 8-inch plant, recasting the efficient production line and protecting the core engine
● Achieve efficient and high-quality fully automated production for 12-inch factories in SH, HB, CD and other locations
From MES, EAP to SPC, YMS, APS and other systems, Sinomet provides targeted system services to many customers, protecting the development of semiconductor companies from all directions and angles. Semiconductors have always been engraved in Sinomet's genes. We firmly embrace the needs of industrial upgrading and help every customer cross the critical stage of domestic substitution.

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[tokenanalyst]

The impact of aberrations in extreme ultraviolet lithography systems on exposure results​

Abstract

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography is one of the essential technologies for the 5nm and below technology nodes. However, the presence of aberrations in the system severely affects the exposure results, which can lead to wafer rework and increase costs. In order to investigate the impact of aberrations in EUV lithography systems on exposure results, this paper conducts research on the impact of aberrations on exposure results of patterns that commonly used in EUV single-exposure for the 5nm technology node. A large number of aberration experiments are performed, and the distribution of critical dimension (CD), normalized image log-slope (NILS), Pattern Shift (PS), and process variation band (PVB) of exposure results in relation to all Zernike terms variation within ±50mλ is statistically analyzed. We find that aberrations lead to worse exposure results generally, and the distribution of results does not strictly follow a Gaussian distribution but exhibits significant "tail" phenomena. And the impact of aberrations varies for different patterns. Furthermore, the relationship between the distribution of exposure results and the magnitude of aberrations are investigated. It is observed that as the aberration RMS increases, the probability of deteriorated exposure results also increases. Spherical aberration has a significant impact on CD and PVB, while x-direction coma has a significant impact on the PS of vertical line-space patterns, and y-direction coma has a significant impact on the PS of vertical tip to tip patterns. X-direction astigmatism has a higher probability of causing positive PS, while y-direction astigmatism has a higher probability of causing negative PS. Relatively speaking, the effects of 3-foil, 4-foil, and 5-foil aberrations are smaller. This paper provides a clear reference for the influence of various aberrations on exposure results and can contribute to the future development and aberration control of lithography systems.​ Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!