The Chinese company SMEE showed new plants for the production of semiconductors SSC800 and SSB800, which use more than 90% of locally produced components. According to TrendForce With reference to industry sources, the equipment has already mastered mass production and has processed over 10 million silicon wafers in total.
Image source: trendforce.com
Both installations support different lithography technologies. The SSC800 uses KrF (deep ultraviolet photolithography, DUV) technology and is designed for the production of chips from 110 nm, including components for AI systems, high-performance computing and memory chips. SSB800 works with I-line technology (ultraviolet spectral range) and is designed for standards from 280 nm used in the production of power and analog semiconductors, as well as MEMS.
The units are equipped with Chinese-developed projection optics and a two-position wafer processing system. At the same time, the accuracy of layer alignment and equipment performance are approaching those of foreign analogues of the corresponding class.
The equipment is already in use at large Chinese enterprises producing logic chips and memory, and its availability exceeds 92%. SMEE has been in business since 2002 and remains the only Chinese manufacturer capable of consistently supplying mass-produced dry projection lithography machines. The company also found itself on the US export restrictions list from December 2022.
Meanwhile, China is developing DUV immersion lithography and one of the state-owned companies has already begun mass production of the corresponding installations, although they are still significantly inferior to ASML equipment. The new SSC800 and SSB800 were shown at the CIIE exhibition in Shanghai from November 5 to 10.
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