South Korean companies have made significant progress in EUV lithography technology

According to businesskorea, Korean local companies have made significant progress in EUV lithography technology.

The "Patent Application Report for the Past 10 Years (2011-2020)" released by the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) shows that in 2014, the number of patent applications related to EUV lithography submitted to the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) reached a peak of 88, reaching 55 in 2018 and 50 in 2019.

In particular, Korean companies are rapidly narrowing the gap with foreign companies in extreme ultraviolet lithography technology. In 2019, the number of patent applications filed by South Korea was 40, exceeding the 10 filed by foreign companies. This is the first time that the number of patent applications filed by South Korea has exceeded that of foreign countries. In 2020, the number of applications filed by South Korea was also more than twice that of foreign countries.

Over the past decade, global companies including Samsung Electronics have conducted intensive R&D to secure technological leadership. Recently, foundry companies began using 5nm EUV lithography technology to produce application processors for smartphones.

From the company perspective, the number of patent applications from the world's six largest companies accounted for 59% of the total, Carl Zeiss (Germany) 18%, Samsung Electronics (South Korea) 15%, ASML (Netherlands) 11%, S&S Tech (South Korea) 8%, TSMC (Taiwan, China) 6%, and SK Hynix (South Korea) 1%.

In terms of specific technical projects, patent applications for process technology accounted for 32%, patent applications for exposure device technology accounted for 31%, patent applications for mask technology accounted for 28%, and other patent applications accounted for 9%. In the field of process technology, Samsung Electronics accounted for 39%, and TSMC accounted for 15%. In the field of masks, S&S Technology accounted for 28%, Hoya (Japan) accounted for 15%, Hanyang University (South Korea) accounted for 10%, Asahi Glass (Japan) accounted for 10%, and Samsung Electronics accounted for 9%.