Semiconductor equipment giant ASML's new generation of High-NA EUV equipment is priced at about 400 million US dollars, equivalent to 2.7 billion yuan. It is reported that the device has higher precision and uses more parts. The model is 30% larger than the previous generation, and the size is like a double-decker bus.
On March 23, 2022, the US Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC) released an interview video for the global lithography machine leader ASML. In addition to showing ASML's EUV lithography machine factory, it also exposed ASML's new generation of high-tech Numerical aperture (High-NA) EUV lithography machine EXE: 5000 series.
To overcome the technical challenges, ASML is establishing a test laboratory together with IMEC, the world's largest microelectronics R&D institution. It is reported that the ASML prototype will be completed in the first half of 2023.ASML said externally that it has received 5 orders for scheduled High-NA EUV in the fourth quarter of 2021.
As early as July 2021, Intel stated that it was committed to becoming the first customer of the high-NA lithography machine. Maurits Tichelman, Intel's vice president of marketing, reiterated this statement and regarded the high-NA EUV lithography machine as a major technological breakthrough.
Semiconductor manufacturing equipment can be divided into front-end equipment and back-end equipment. Among them, the front-end manufacturing equipment mainly includes photolithography machine, glue coating and developing equipment, etching machine, glue remover, film deposition equipment, cleaning machine, CMP equipment, ion implanter, heat treatment equipment, measurement equipment; back-end manufacturing equipment Mainly include thinning machines, dicing machines, wafer loading machines, wire bonding machines, testing machines, sorting machines, probe stations, etc.
Statistics show that the lithography process is the most time-consuming step in the wafer manufacturing process, accounting for about 40%-50% of the total wafer manufacturing time. It can be said that without a lithography machine, the chip cannot be manufactured.
ASML in the Netherlands is a global leader in the field of lithography machines and the only company in the world with EUV lithography technology lithography machines. The High-NA exposure technology promoted by ASML is the key to continuing Moore's Law.
The current semiconductor process has been advanced to 3 nanometers, and TSMC is hitting 1 nanometer. To realize these advanced processes, high-end lithography machines are inseparable.
A spokesperson for ASML has told the media that higher lithography resolution will allow the chip to shrink by a factor of 1.7 while increasing the density by a factor of 2.9. In the future, more advanced processes than 3nm will be extremely dependent on high NA EUV lithography machines.Of course, ASML cannot independently make a high NA EUV lithography machine, and also needs the support of important manufacturers such as Zeiss in Germany and photoresist coating in Japan.
The 0.33NA EUV lithography machine currently sold by ASML has more than 100,000 parts, which requires 40 shipping containers or 4 jet freighters to complete the one-time transportation. The unit price is about 140 million US dollars.
This new generation of High NA EUV lithography machine can reduce the number of drawing times for microcircuits. It features an increase in the numerical aperture (NA) of the lens from 0.33 to 0.55. This reduces the number of masks on which the circuit patterns are engraved, thereby reducing cost and process time.
