BEIJING (Bloomberg) - China has claimed a breakthrough in a domestically developed chip making machines, marking a vital step in overcoming U.S. curbs on the country’s semiconductor ambitions, Bloomberg News reported.
State-linked organizations were advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography system with a resolution of 65 nanometers ((nm)) or better, the report added, citing an announcement from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, or MIIT, from earlier this month. The specifications mark a step from the previous most-advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group, which was at around 90nm.
The Chinese government is promoting two domestically made chip-making machines. The lithography machines, which print complex circuit patterns onto silicon wafers, “have achieved significant technological breakthroughs, own intellectual property rights but have yet to perform on the market,” the South China Morning Post, or SCMP, reported on Sunday, citing MIIT, which did not disclose the companies behind the two machines.
One of the deep ultraviolet, or DUV, lithography machines operates at a wavelength of 193 nm, with a resolution below 65nm and an overlay accuracy below 8nm, as per the new list of “major technological equipment” published by the MIIT last week. The other DUV system has a wavelength of 248nm, with 110nm resolution and 25nm overlay accuracy, the SCMP report noted.
However, the two machines are still far behind the most advanced system on the market, such as those from Dutch chip equipment maker ASML.
One of ASML’s most advanced DUV machines, can operate at a resolution of below 38nm with an overlay accuracy of 1.3nm. The DUV machines are also behind the extreme ultraviolet lithography, or EUV, systems which are produced by ASML that use light with a wavelength of only 13.5nm – almost 14 times sharper than the DUV’s 195nm.
Earlier, this month, the Dutch government was expanding the export licensing requirements for ASML’s immersion DUV semiconductor equipment that would take oversight over them from the U.S. and align the policies of the two nations. Following the move, China was “dissatisfied” with the Dutch government’s decision.
The Biden administration has been stepping up efforts to curb China’s access to advance semiconductor equipment, which, among other things, is used in making AI products. Facing U.S. pressure, The Netherlands has not allowed ASML to ship its best EUV equipment to China, while it started requiring a license for NXT:2000 series and better of DUV tools in September 2023.
In July, the U.S. government was thinking of imposing the most severe trade curbs available if companies, including ASML, continued to provide China access to advanced semiconductor technology. ASML was also being targeted by the U.S. because it has a monopoly on making some machines which produce the most advanced semiconductors.