To achieve industrial linkage, China's integrated circuit industry needs real "finance" and "materials"

In the past 12 years, China has achieved a breakthrough in the field of integrated circuit materials. According to statistics from the Integrated Circuit Materials Innovation Alliance, there are more than 150 kinds of domestic integrated circuit materials that have been used in batches in my country, some of which have met customer requirements at the 14nm node, and more than 110 kinds of materials account for more than 50% of the single-site procurement.

Recently, the 2020 China Semiconductor Materials Innovation and Development Conference (hereinafter referred to as the "Conference") was grandly held in Hefei. Government leaders at all levels and industry professionals jointly discussed the development path of the local semiconductor materials sector.

As Ye Tianchun, chief engineer of the National 02 Major Project, said, in the rapid development of China's integrated circuit industry, the material link has not actually lagged behind. However, compared with the big cake of the global semiconductor material market, China's entire semiconductor industry chain still needs to be multi-dimensionally considered to jointly narrow the gap between the material field and overseas. Only with the "real materials" in the upstream can there be "real wealth" in the entire integrated circuit industry.

Policy tilt

Since it is the weak link in the industrial chain, the accelerated development of the semiconductor materials field obviously requires policy support first.

At the conference, Chairman Cao Jianlin, former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology, pointed out in his speech that the materials industry is extremely important. The main characteristics of the integrated circuit industry are first-generation products, first-generation processes, and first-generation equipment, and its cornerstone is first-generation materials. In the process of my country's advancement towards becoming a technological power, advanced manufacturing materials representing the level of a technological power should also be at the forefront to achieve global integrated development. He also emphasized that the advanced materials industry, which is at the beginning of the industrial chain, especially needs strong support from the government, and hopes that Hefei can become the first industrial base in China where advanced materials are applied and promoted.

Yang Xudong, deputy director of the Electronic Information Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, also pointed out that semiconductors are a national strategic industry, and materials are at the upstream of the industrial chain and occupy a strategic core position. In August this year, the State Council issued a document to promote the development of the integrated circuit industry. As long as domestic enterprises meet the conditions, they will be supported by preferential policies. It is hoped that entrepreneurs will seize the vast market space and development opportunities to achieve higher-quality development of the semiconductor materials industry.

Wang Wensong, deputy mayor of Hefei, specifically stated that under the dual influence of the global situation and the COVID-19 pandemic, the development of the materials industry needs more encouragement and support. Hefei will further support industrial and talent policies to provide enterprises with efficient and high-quality services, and work hand in hand with the materials industry for common development.

Industrial linkage

In addition to policy support, upstream and downstream linkage is also an important driving force for the development of the semiconductor materials field. The downstream can expand the application field of products and seize the growing market demand. Its technological progress can promote innovation in the upstream materials field, and its production capacity will directly bring huge growth space for upstream local material suppliers.

Zheng Li, CEO of Changdian Technology, talked about how advanced packaging technology can help innovation in the field of semiconductor materials at the conference. He said that emerging applications, including AI and big data, have put forward higher and higher requirements on chip performance, such as high-frequency transmission, low power consumption, good heat dissipation, and higher performance. This has put forward increasingly complex requirements for the entire integrated circuit product, and at the same time has also promoted the development of integrated circuit packaging towards high density and high precision, which also requires a high degree of coordination between processes and materials.

Zheng Li pointed out that the design process and material innovation of back-end manufacturing are in the same vein. For example, the innovation of heat dissipation materials can optimize the thermal conductivity and elastic coefficient, while the innovation of substrates can reduce Dk/Df to adapt to high-frequency chips.

Zheng Li emphasized that the integrated circuit finished product manufacturing and packaging and testing links can connect the past and the future in the industrial chain, and the collaborative design and joint research and development of chip circuits, packaging processes, materials and systems are becoming increasingly important. For domestic material manufacturers, the road ahead is long but very meaningful. Changdian Technology will help material manufacturers DFX innovation and in-depth research and development collaboration, and lead local material manufacturers to develop together.

Cai Huijia, general manager of Hefei Jinghe, talked about the driving effect of industrial linkage on the upstream material links from the perspective of production capacity.

Cai Huijia revealed that Hefei Jinghe's monthly production capacity has reached 25,000 pieces, and is expected to reach 30,000 pieces in November this year. By 2021, the company's annual production capacity is expected to increase to 50,000 to 60,000 pieces.

The rapid increase in Hefei Jinghe's production capacity has brought development opportunities for domestic materials. Cai Huijia pointed out that since the establishment of the factory in 2015, Jinghe has begun to pay attention to the localization of materials. At present, Jinghe has achieved 60-70% localization of chemicals and gases. As production capacity increases, Jinghe will continue to promote the localization of other materials in the future, such as hydrofluoric acid, sulfuric acid and silicon wafers.

Feng Yaobin, manager of the photolithography technology department of Yangtze Memory Technologies, also pointed out in his speech that the company has reached a smooth and friendly cooperation with material suppliers. In the past few years, in the process of cooperating with major local material suppliers for research and development, Yangtze Memory Technologies has continuously optimized the process, discussed the design plan together, conducted some front-line tests at the manufacturer end in the early stage, and discussed a reasonable and efficient verification plan with each other, and then carried out small batch testing and expanded process verification in the company's factory.

Throughout the above process, Yangtze Memory worked with local material suppliers to optimize project materials, and finally achieved the common goal of both parties and formed a strategic cooperation. This perfectly reflects the driving role of downstream local manufacturers in the upstream material link. It can be said that industrial linkage will play the most efficient role in promoting the development of China's semiconductor materials field.

continue to innovate

Putting aside external factors, the company's own investment and innovation are also the key to promoting the progress of the entire semiconductor material link. Taking photoresist as an example, Chen Xin, chairman of Beijing Kehua Microelectronics Materials Co., Ltd., talked about the current status of domestic semiconductor material development.

Chen Xin pointed out that in 2019, among the sales proportions of semiconductor photoresists in different regions of the world, mainland China ranked third with a share of 15%, and the gap with South Korea (23%) and Taiwan (22%), which ranked first and second, is still narrowing. It is estimated that by 2025, the overall demand for photoresists in mainland China will exceed US$600 million, of which ArF will reach US$298 million, KrF will reach US$199 million, I-Line will reach US$77.45 million, G-Line will reach US$21.93 million, and UV negative resist will reach US$63.67 million.

The market is growing rapidly, but there is still a big gap between local photoresists and the domestic IC production line demand. Chen Xin said that it will take at least 5 years for local companies to complete the industrialization of ArF photoresists. Although KrF photoresists have been industrialized, it will still take 3 years to meet the domestic integrated circuit process requirements. I-Line photoresists have completed product development that meets domestic process technology requirements, but will still face further market development.

Chen Xin pointed out that the production of photoresist requires the integration of multiple disciplines, including photochemistry, organic synthesis, polymer synthesis, refining and purification, microanalysis, performance evaluation and other technologies. In particular, the backwardness of engineering technology has become a technical bottleneck for the industrialization of photoresist in my country. Therefore, the development of photoresist still requires long-term technical accumulation and continuous innovation.

Technological innovation cannot be separated from talents. Chen Xin said that the construction of a talent gradient for photoresists in my country has not yet been completed. Colleges and universities should cultivate talents in a targeted manner, and basic research in scientific research institutes should further cultivate science and engineering talents, so that companies will have more talent options.