Russian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Ships of the Russian Pacific Fleet and the Egyptian Navy conducted a joint exercise in the Mediterranean Sea. Previously, Russian ships, including the Varyag missile cruiser of Project 1164 and the frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov of Project 1155M, were previously considered
a large anti-submarine ship, left the port of Alexandria, where they were on a business call. The Egyptian Navy used the frigate Al-Qadeer.
The frigate "Al-Qadeer" F-909 was launched in 2022, the ship's displacement is 3,700 tons. During the exercises, the ships of Russia and Egypt practiced forming a detachment in a designated area and joint tactical maneuvering in various formations. In addition, the ships conducted communications training and provided flights of deck helicopters.

Footage assessing the armor of the American-made M113 armored personnel carrier, previously used in the Ukrainian army. The M113 armored personnel carrier was developed in the USA in 1959 and was produced until 2007. The M113 armored personnel carrier is one of the most common in the world; more than 80 thousand units were produced. The armor of the M113 armored personnel carrier was tested at the training ground of one of the Russian military research institutes. The body of the M113 armored personnel carrier is welded, it consists of 45 mm sheets of aluminum armor, with the addition of manganese and magnesium. The M113 armored personnel carrier was fired from a Russian armored personnel carrier-82A with a 2A72 automatic cannon of 30 mm caliber. Also, the Russian ASVK 12.7 mm sniper rifle, with an armor-piercing cartridge, was used to fire at the M113 armored personnel carrier from a distance of 100 meters.

The heavy attack-transport UAV "Perun" was received by Russian troops. The drone was developed by former Wagner military personnel. It is not clear whether the military personnel themselves assemble the drone from foreign components, or whether it is a ready-made design; the drone’s software is reportedly Russian-developed. In the video you can see a soldier being transported by a drone, as well as the Fagot ATGM installed on the drone; we previously showed these tests. The drone is currently being tested to deliver cargo to military personnel, so it can be used for evacuating the wounded, reconnaissance and dropping ammunition. The drone can deliver landing groups behind enemy lines. During further testing, they plan to attach a machine gun and a installation for launching unguided aircraft missiles to the Perun drone. The carrying capacity of the Perun drone is up to 200 kg, the price and other technical characteristics are not reported.

Russia has deployed the first battery of the new S-500 Prometheus air defense system in the Krasnodar region. It is worth noting that the head of the Ukrainian military intelligence department, Kirill Budanov, said that the S-500 air defense system was deployed in Crimea, in the Kerch Strait area. According to media reports, the S-500 air defense system will protect the Crimean Bridge. The S-500 air defense system is specially designed to combat ballistic missiles; it is quite difficult to hit them, and the previous generation air defense systems cope worse with this. The last stage of testing of the S-500 complex took place on February 22, when the Prometheus air defense system hit the R-29RMU2 Sineva intercontinental ballistic missile.

Looks like the Russians no longer have to steal washing machines anymore.

The first Russian photolithograph was created in Zelenograd - it is suitable for producing 350 nm chips
06/04/2024

“We assembled and made the first domestic lithograph. It is now undergoing testing as part of the technological line in Zelenograd,” this is how an official from the Ministry of Industry announced this significant event for Russian microelectronics, on whose order the Zelenograd Nanotechnology Center (ZNTC) has been developing since 2022 . By the end of 2024, it should be completed with the creation of a prototype photolithograph for the production of microcircuits with a topological level of 350 nm. ZNTC plans to launch serial production of this equipment by the end of 2025.

“Chips with a size of 350 nanometers, although considered large, are still used in many industries, including the automotive industry, energy and telecommunications,” TASS comments on the level of the first photolithograph.

A photolithograph (stepper) for the production of 350 nm microcircuits is an installation weighing 3.5 tons and dimensions 2x2.6x2.5 meters (optical-mechanical device, laser lens with an operating wavelength of 365 nm) plus a control complex. Photolithography processes take place inside: individual processing of silicon wafers (150 and 200 mm in diameter) with automatic loading and unloading of them from cassettes.

Two competitions of the Ministry of Industry and Trade for the development of domestic installations for printing microcircuits on silicon wafers ( the first with a topology level of up to 130 nm with the prospect of its subsequent modernization to a topological level of 65 nm, the second - up to 350 nm) were held in the fall of 2021. ZNTC became the winner of both as the only participant. The final contract value for the first competition was 5.7 billion rubles, for the second - almost 1 billion rubles. The development of photolithographs is one of the first projects of the state program to localize in Russia the technological chain for the production of microcircuits with topological standards of 350...130 nm using completely Russian equipment, as reported in the nanocenter.

“As part of the project to develop a 350 nm photolithograph, we are taking a ready-made laser - a semiconductor, domestic one. Perhaps Zelenograd companies specializing in laser technologies will be able to take part in the supply of such equipment in the future; a separate competitive procedure will be held for this,” ZNTC General Director Anatoly Kovalev told Zelenograd.ru.

ZNTC's partners in developing a photolithograph are the Russian laser manufacturer LASSARD and the Belarusian company Planar, which has retained competence in the development of photolithographs since the times of the USSR. At the beginning of 2023, ZNTC agreed with the Belarusian chip manufacturer Integral on the conditions for pre-ordering equipment for photolithography with a topology level of 350 nm.

Today, only three companies in the world produce such equipment: the Dutch ASML, which occupies 84% of the market, and two Japanese companies - Nikon and Canon. “The cost of domestic photolithographs, according to our preliminary estimates, should be lower than foreign ones,” predicted Anatoly Kovalev. “But that’s not the only important thing.” Today, the import of new photolithographic equipment to Russia is under serious restrictions, and in any case, the country needs to solve the problem of developing its own steppers, since photolithography is the basis of any technological process in microelectronics.”

The head of the technological equipment development center and the chief designer of two R&D projects for the creation of domestic photolithographs, Dmitry Kalbazov, spoke in more detail about the progress of the development of the first Russian photolithograph in 2022 and the operating principles of this installation on the Culture TV channel.

As for the 130-65 nm photolithograph, it is planned to develop a completely domestic laser with a wavelength of 193 nm from scratch and obtain a prototype stepper by the end of 2026.

blackjack21 said:

As part of the project to develop a 350 nm photolithograph, we are taking a ready-made laser - a semiconductor, domestic one.

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If this is true this a major step forward towards making such machines more economic to manufacture and operate.
i-line lithography machines other companies make typically use a mercury lamp as the light source. Mercury lamps are way less power efficient at generating light than semiconductor lasers.

A semiconductor laser will be tuned to that particular frequency and will generate light strictly in that. The mercury lamp will be generating light across a wide spectrum of light. And most of it will be in a frequency you don't want. These frequencies will just be filtered out and discarded by the machine. Contributing to wasted power and heat which will need to be dissipated.

blackjack21 said:

Today, only three companies in the world produce such equipment: the Dutch ASML, which occupies 84% of the market, and two Japanese companies - Nikon and Canon. “The cost of domestic photolithographs, according to our preliminary estimates, should be lower than foreign ones,” predicted Anatoly Kovalev. “But that’s not the only important thing.” Today, the import of new photolithographic equipment to Russia is under serious restrictions, and in any case, the country needs to solve the problem of developing its own steppers, since photolithography is the basis of any technological process in microelectronics.”

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SMEE is underestimated even by the Russians.

tokenanalyst said:

SMEE is underestimated even by the Russians.

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In practice we don't have confirmation of their machines being used anywhere in actual backend applications with mass production.
SMEE is big in frontend lithography for advanced packaging but their sales for lithography of actual chips are basically nonexistent.

Even companies like CRMicro which are building factory expansions with i-line and KrF do not use SMEE machines. My guess is the machines have way less WPH output and thus are not cost effective to operate. There might also be lock-in effects where companies prefer to handle just one supplier of lithography machines across the whole production line.

Russia is already using Chinese machines for plastic packaging. All the fabs which make chips in Russia have been installing them. Putin innagurated a facility in Kaliningrad which produces silicon crystals for solar cells using Chinese furnaces. It is not like they wouldn't use Chinese machines if they were fit for purpose.

gelgoog said:

In practice we don't have confirmation of their machines being used anywhere in actual backend applications with mass production.
SMEE is big in frontend lithography for advanced packaging but their sales for lithography of actual chips are basically nonexistent.

Even companies like CRMicro which are building factory expansions with i-line and KrF do not use SMEE machines. My guess is the machines have way less WPH output and thus are not cost effective to operate. There might also be lock-in effects where companies prefer to handle just one supplier of lithography machines across the whole production line.

Russia is already using Chinese machines for plastic packaging. All the fabs which make chips in Russia have been installing them. Putin innagurated a facility in Kaliningrad which produces silicon crystals for solar cells using Chinese furnaces. It is not like they wouldn't use Chinese machines if they were fit for purpose.

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I think SMEE may be far ahead most people think but agree that their shadowish nature make them vulnerable to speculation.

My problem with this lithography announcement is that they don't talk about the other part of the lithography tool chain, like coaters, AEI ADI metrology, OPC, mask, overlay metrology and a lot software.

Making chips, even lower ones is way more complex than just having a lithography machines, there is a lot of things going on, of course they could get all this from China but all Chinese lithography tooling chain is being make to work with SMEE<who machines are being made to be compatible with ASML>, ASML and Nikon tools. I don't think that the Russians collaborated with more establish Chinese litho toolchain companies like KingSemi, DJEL,Wuhan Jingce and others to get the other tools. They are planning to go alone.

It could be that for 350nm they don't won't have too much problem, especially at lower volume, but going forward they need to develop a complete litho toolchain.

tokenanalyst said:

My problem with this lithography announcement is that they don't talk about the other part of the lithography tool chain, like coaters, AEI ADI metrology, OPC, mask, overlay metrology and a lot software.
...
Making chips, even lower ones is way more complex than just having a lithography machines, there is a lot of things going on, of course they could get all this from China but all Chinese lithography tooling chain is being make to work with SMEE<who machines are being made to be compatible with ASML>, ASML and Nikon tools. I don't think that the Russians collaborated with more establish Chinese litho toolchain companies like KingSemi, DJEL,Wuhan Jingce and others to get the other tools. They are planning to go alone.

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Except the Russians are also making the other tools. This Russian company for example makes cleaning, deposition, and etching tools.

Do not underestimate the depth of the effort.

tokenanalyst said:

It could be that for 350nm they don't won't have too much problem, especially at lower volume, but going forward they need to develop a complete litho toolchain.

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The Russians want to make the whole shebang from what I understand. But the current semi tools they are developing seem to be focused on 150mm or at best 200mm wafers on legacy processes. They basically want to modernize their existing production processes first. Then later focus on more advanced processes. Also, the emphasis seems to be more on tools which might have lower production volumes but can operate more inexpensively. Using modern concepts and components. For example the company I referenced above is making plasma cleaning and etching tools for 150mm wafers.

Most legacy production in Russia uses those 150mm wafers. The wafers are made in Russia and a native cycle to produce them exists. But the tools they use are really old. So the Russians are making these new tools.

Some of the factories in Russia just don't have enough demand volume to justify going to larger wafers. Especially those which make discretes.