Netherlands' chip tool export controls take effect for DUV Lithography and ALD

The Netherlands has enacted new export controls on cutting-edge chipmaking technology, joining the US and Japan in regulating these crucial tools. The new move, effective from September 1, targets advanced chip manufacturing equipment used in processes like deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography and atomic layer deposition (ALD) - an add-on to previous EUV Lithography export restrictions. 

Dutch company ASML, a global leader in chipmaking equipment, will continue shipments of some advanced machines this year, but starting January 1, it expects limited export licenses for systems bound for domestic Chinese customers. 

The Dutch government says it is a matter of the country's security. "We've taken this step on national security grounds," Liesje Schreinemacher, the minister for foreign trade and development cooperation, said of the new rules.

ASM International, a Dutch company, holds a significant position in the ALD market. Renowned for its ALD equipment, ASM International plays a vital role in semiconductor manufacturing by enabling precise and thin material layering on wafers. This technology is essential for advanced chip production, impacting various industries. Its role emphasizes the impact of export controls on crucial semiconductor processes and global technology supply chains.

The regulations, driven by national security concerns, cover tools vital for producing memory chips, processors, and sensors. Chinese chipmakers have reportedly accelerated purchases of equipment ahead of the rules taking effect. China's responses include its own export curbs and efforts to bolster domestic semiconductor capabilities. The situation reflects the evolving landscape of technology export controls and their impact on international supply chains.

Source:

Netherlands' chip tool export controls take effect: 4 things to know - Nikkei Asia

ALD (Atomic Layer Deposition) | ASM

U.S. and Netherlands Tighten Restrictions on Chipmaking Equipment Sales to China, Impacting ALD and ASM International

The United States and the Netherlands are set to impose stricter restrictions on the sale of chipmaking equipment to China, aiming to prevent the use of foreign technology for military strengthening. In their efforts to curb China's access to advanced semiconductor technology, the Dutch government plans to restrict equipment from ASML, the leading chip equipment maker in the Netherlands, while the U.S. plans to further withhold Dutch equipment from specific Chinese fabs. These measures will impact atomic layer deposition (ALD) firm ASM International as well.

Besides ASM and Lithography, ASM International and ALD is of national interest to The Netherlands. During the recent Royal State Visit of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands to imec, ASM, a long-standing partner of imec, was in attendance. With over 30 years of partnership, ASM has made significant investments in research and development and maintains a substantial on-site team at imec known in the industry as ASM B or ASM Belgium. During the visit, ASM had the opportunity to highlight its role in the semiconductor ecosystem of both the Netherlands and Belgium, emphasizing how this collaboration connects Europe to advanced semiconductor manufacturing activities on a global scale. (Source: ASM LinkedIn)

ASML, Europe's largest chip equipment company, dominates in lithography, a crucial step in the chip manufacturing process. The Dutch government intends to announce new regulations, including a licensing requirement, for ASML's deep ultraviolet (DUV) semiconductor equipment. ASML's more sophisticated extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines are already restricted and have never been shipped to China. The U.S. is expected to identify specific Chinese facilities, possibly including those operated by SMIC, China's largest chipmaker, in a new rule that restricts foreign equipment containing any U.S. parts. ASM International, an ALD firm, is also likely to be impacted by the new Dutch regulations.

The U.S. and Dutch measures aim to prevent China from gaining access to advanced chipmaking technology that could be used for military purposes. These actions reflect the ongoing tensions between the U.S. and China regarding national security concerns and technological competition. While the exact details and timing of the restrictions may change, the increasing limitations on chipmaking equipment sales are expected to have significant implications for the global semiconductor industry and the supply chain dynamics in the coming months.

Sources:

US, Dutch set to hit China's chipmakers with one-two punch | Daily Mail Online

State visit to Belgium – programme | News item | Royal House of the Netherlands (royal-house.nl)

ASM faces restrictions on exporting advanced chip equipment to China, impacting its operations.

• ASM faces restrictions on exporting advanced chip equipment to China, impacting its operations.
• Despite the curbs, ASM experiences a boost in demand driven by the growing need for artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
• The CEO of ASM believes that achieving complete decoupling between the United States and China will be a challenging task.

According to Bloomberg, Dutch CVD, ALD and Epi semiconductor equipment company ASM International NV is experiencing minimal impact on its sales due to US export controls on semiconductor equipment to China. The company remains optimistic as strong demand for chips, driven by artificial intelligence applications such as generative AI, continues to grow. 

ASM's CEO, Benjamin Loh, highlighted the increasing need for memory in the coming years, particularly in the context of AI technologies. ASM expects the chip market to recover from next year onwards, with sales in 2025 surpassing those of 2022. To capitalize on future growth, ASM plans to invest $100 million in expanding its research operations and facility in South Korea and aims to hire an additional 200 staff within three to five years. Despite restrictions on selling advanced chipmaking gear to China, ASM's position as a key machinery provider to Nvidia, a leading AI accelerator supplier, has contributed to its shares gaining over 70% this year.

Loh, reiterates that the company will experience minimal impact from the restrictions on exporting semiconductor equipment to China. Loh mentions that while they are unable to sell the most advanced equipment, there is still a significant market for other non-restricted equipment, and they can continue trading with Chinese customers. He remains optimistic about the future, stating that as long as chip demand continues to grow, there will be other buyers for their premium products. 

Loh also highlights the challenge of complete decoupling between China and the US, as the chip supply chain remains highly globalized. Recent statements from US officials reflect a shift towards derisking rather than decoupling from China in efforts to improve relations between the two economies.

Source: ASM Sees Impact From China Chip Curbs Offset by AI-Driven Demand - Bloomberg

Why China denied Applied Materials take over of Hitachi Kokusai

According to a recent analysis by Robert Castellano (Seeking Alpha/The Information Network LINK), Hitachi Kokusai holds a strong position in tube/non-tube LPCVD and oxidation/diffusion semiconductor equipment. For some time Applied Material has planned the acquisition of Kokusai that would have increased its global market share, for silicon wafer processing equipment by adding a big segment that it does not have in its product portfolio - LPCVD, Diffusion, and ALD Furnaces. According to the market assessment, Hitachi Kokusai holds a leading market share in this segment over No. 2. Tokyo Electron. 

Castellano brings up the interesting observation that "China blocked Applied Materials' acquisition of Kokusai while permitting the Marvell-Inphi deal the same week". Basically meaning that there are more than just US-China Trade issues behind the decision. He concludes that "China is developing a home-grown equipment industry infrastructure, and the deal would impede on that effort." and follows up by breaking up the segments and global competitive situation as below.

Summary by Castellano of China OEM active in LPCVD, Diffusion, and ALD segments vs. the global leaders

China’s NAURA makes oxidation and diffusion furnaces and its products have captured a significant share (40-50%) of YMTC’s thermal process equipment purchases, per our channel checks. In RTP, major players include Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron, and Mattson Technology.

NAURA is developing etchers and deposition equipment for 7nm and 5nm nodes. NAURA has a large product offering, and its customers consist of SMIC, Hua Hong, YMTC, and GTA Semiconductors.

NAURA also makes thermal furnaces and has a 45% share of China’s memory maker YMTC purchases. Whereas NAURA sold 8 etch systems and 6 CVD and ALD deposition systems to Chinese semiconductor companies, the company sold 34 furnaces in 2019 as well as 16 cleaning systems.

Shenyang Piotech also supplies PECVD and ALD deposition equipment. Piotech received orders for 4 PECVD (for SiN, SiO2) systems from YMTC, and is also receiving repeat orders from Hua Hong, and SMIC.

The size of the semiconductor equipment market and the small share China's equipment suppliers currently enjoy compared to foreign suppliers (source: The Information Network LINK)

Please read the full article for in-depth analysis: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4416606-applied-materials-why-much-needed-kokusai-acquisition-was-denied-china

Applied Materials may kill $3.5B buy of Japanese ALD and CVD Furnace Company Kokusai over delayed approval by China

Applied Materials Inc. on Monday said that its $3.5 billion offer to buy Kokusai Electric Corp. may be terminated because the deal hasn't been able to get timely approval from Chinese regulators. The Santa Clara chip manufacturing equipment company set a March 19 deadline on the deal late in December when it increased how much it would pay KKR HKE Investment L.P. for the Japanese company. The original price was $2.2 billion. But it said on Monday that it will likely now pay KKR a termination fee.

Trouble to reach approval in China has been foreseen by several analysts since the announcement 2019, see below for more details.

Read full article

• Kokusai is a small acquisition for Applied materials as compared to the previously failed mega-merger with Tokyo Electron
• Kokusai, which counts Samsung, SK Hynix, Toshiba, and Micron among its top customers, reported revenue of $1.24 billion as of March 2018.
• Kokusai’s batch wafer processing tools are less technology-intensive than Applied Materials’ single wafer tools, the recent focus on ultra-thin films has driven renewed interest in this group.

Background: 

• Impacts of the US-China trade conflict on the semiconductor equipment market and ALD LINK
• ASM International settles with Kokusai for Batch ALD patent licenses (US$61 million) LINK
• Applied Materials to buy Japan's Kokusai to boost memory chip business and ALD LINK

ACM Research Enters Dry Processing Market with Launch of CVD/ALD Ultra Furnace

• ACM’s First Furnace Product Targets LPCVD Initially, Oxidation, Annealing and ALD in Future
• ACM Research intends to target customers in China initially, before expanding the offering of the Ultra Furnace into Korea and Taiwan later.
• ACM delivered the first Ultra Furnace tool to a key logic customer’s manufacturing facility in China in early 2020. This tool targets LPCVD, and has been installed in a production environment to begin qualification.

FREMONT, Calif., April 28, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ACM Research, Inc. (“ACM” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ:ACMR), a leading supplier of wafer cleaning technologies for advanced semiconductor devices, today unveiled the Ultra Furnace, its first system developed for multiple dry processing applications. Initially optimized to deliver high performance for low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD), the Ultra Furnace also leverages the same platform to be used for oxidation and annealing processes, as well as for atomic layer deposition (ALD). This achievement represents a two-year collaboration between ACM’s R&D teams located in China and Korea.

“Advanced technology nodes present ongoing challenges that require innovation from the capital equipment suppliers. This demanding environment provides significant opportunities for ACM,” explained Dr. David Wang, CEO of ACM Research. “Continuous innovation is in our DNA. We saw a market need that could benefit from our technology, and expanded our reach into a new market segment. The addition of the Ultra Furnace to ACM’s established portfolio of wet processing tools, expands our opportunity by providing an integrated solution to our customers’ advanced products.”

“The Ultra Furnace product is the result of collaboration between our talented experts in China and Korea to develop differentiated technology,” stated YY Kim, CEO of ACM Research Korea. “ACM’s team in Korea was established to complement the talents of our world-class Shanghai team, accelerate our time to market, and provide outstanding technical support to our local customers.”

Deposition processes utilize process gases at a high temperature to react with each other on a silicon wafer, forming a silicon oxide or nitride layer on the wafers. The Ultra Furnace system is intended for batch processing of up to 100 12-inch (300mm) wafers. The innovative system design combines newly developed hardware that improves durability, with the company’s proven software technology and a proprietary control system and algorithm. This enables the tool to provide stable control of pressure, gas flow rate and temperature.

While the Ultra Furnace system targets LPCVD processes, with a few changes to the components and layout, each tool can address other target applications. About 85 percent of the hardware configuration remains unchanged, so the alterations for the new application can be achieved efficiently.

ACM Research intends to target customers in China initially, before expanding the offering of the Ultra Furnace into Korea and Taiwan later. ACM delivered the first Ultra Furnace tool to a key logic customer’s manufacturing facility in China in early 2020. This tool targets LPCVD, and has been installed in a production environment to begin qualification.

The 5th International Conference on ALD Applications & 1st Asian ALD Conference (2020 China ALD

Following the successes of the previous four International Conferences on ALD Applications and China ALD Conferences since 2010, the 5th International Conference on ALD Applications & 1st Asian ALD Conference (2020 China ALD) will be a three-day meeting, dedicated to the fundamentals and applications of Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) technology in various fields. It will be held in Wuhan, China, from October 12 to 14, 2020. This conference will feature plenary sessions, oral sessions, poster sessions and industrial exhibitions.

The ALD technique has been widely used and explored in numerous fields such as microelectronics, photoelectronics, optical coating, functional nanomaterials, MEMS/NEMS, energy storage, biotechnology, catalysis technology, and etc.

Conference web: http://www.c-ald.com/

Program Chair

Rong Chen (Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China)

Program Co-Chairs

Chang Liu (Wuhan University, China)

Soo-Hyun Kim (Yeungnam University, South Korea) 

 

China’s water crisis stems the flow of zirconium and rare earths for global industries

World Water Day on 22nd March highlighted some staggering facts about water shortages affecting much of the world’s population. While many Western countries take access to clean water for granted, growing water crises in other countries have world-wide consequences. For example, China is taking steps to secure its water resources, with severe impacts for global supply chains across multiple industries.

‘Our bodies, our cities and our industries, our agriculture and our ecosystems all depend on it,’ said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. 70-80% of all water consumption is for agriculture and energy production. Balancing the water needs of food and energy production is a challenge for many nations.

Water is also essential to mining, chemicals production, and manufacturing, industries which have long assumed ongoing, plentiful supply. This perception is changing as a deeper understanding of the water balance for each country reveals a different reality. Some countries, including China, are net water exporters: the water used to produce the goods and materials they export is higher than the water embodied in imports. Also, the production of exports often pollutes their waterways.

As water stress sets in, these countries have no choice but to change their production practices and trade balance, disrupting global supply chains. For the past five years, the World Economic Forum has ranked water crises in its top 5 global risks in terms of impact, yet most industrial companies seem oblivious to the risks to supply chains for themselves and their customers.

Some provinces have water resources on par with the Middle East. Source: CWR LINK 

Graphic media images of devastating floods from typhoons and other extreme weather events give the impression that China has plenty of water. In southern China, this is partially true, but it’s not so in the north. According to China Water Risk, the 11 driest provinces are in northern China. Home to 38% of the population, these provinces account for 36% of agricultural output, 47% of industrial output and 43% of GDP, yet have only 7% of the country’s water resources. With a population of around 100 million, Shandong province, for example, has only 250 m3 of water per person – less than most countries in the Middle East. Less than 500 m3 of water per person is considered a critical shortage.

To meet demand, the Chinese have been extracting groundwater at unsustainably high rates. The driest 11 provinces rely on groundwater for 28% of water needs, compared to just 13% for the 13 most water-secure provinces, which are mostly in the south. If business continues as usual, water demand will exceed supply by 2030. Chinese authorities are well aware of these issues and are moving responsibly to impose the ‘three red lines’: national water quotas set for 2015, 2020 and 2030. The Made in China 2025 policy promotes high-GDP low-water industries and China is continuing its ‘war on pollution’.

The implications for China’s chemicals industries and the supply chains that depend on them are profound. For example, China dominates global zirconium chemicals supply on which the world relies for: mobile communications, clean energy technologies, catalytic converters used in the automotive industry, jet turbines, bio-ceramic dental, knee, and hip implants, and waterproof and fire-resistant fabrics. But two-thirds of China’s zirconium chemicals production is located in the dry northern provinces, with 52% of capacity in parched Shandong.

Similarly, China has conquered more than 90% of the rare earths market. Rare earths have multiple applications in advanced technology for transport, information, and communications, defense and medicine. Most of China’s rare earths production occurs in Inner Mongolia, where water supply is also under stress, despite relatively low population density.

So, what happens when Chinese authorities reduce or withdraw water access for zirconium and rare earths production? Or when new anti-pollution laws impose severe remediation costs on producers? Severe impacts will be felt around the world unless alternative supplies of these critical materials can be found.

Fortunately, Australia has the opportunity to secure a strategic alternative supply of zirconium, rare earths and other essential elements, for 80+ years. The world-class Dubbo Project in central NSW has a water supply and licenses in place, and water efficiency measures include extensive recycling and optimization of product and waste streams. To progress the Dubbo Project to construction, Alkane Resources seeks a blend of financing from export credit agencies, strategic partners and equity and debt markets. Information for investors is available here 

------------------------------------

Guest Blog by Alister MacDonald, General Manager - Marketing, Alkane Resources

Picosun storms over the Asian ALD production market in several key application areas

ESPOO, Finland, 28th June, 2018 – Picosun Group, a leading supplier of advanced Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) thin film coating technology, breaks through into industrial production in Asia in several new, key application areas.

The applications relate to display manufacturing and telecommunications, and a novel approach to use ALD to improve chip quality diagnostics. 

 

 

The rapidly increasing popularity of smartwatches, wearable activity and health monitors, smartphones, and other small, portable electronic devices equipped with a screen puts a new kind of pressure to display manufacturers. A next generation of solutions needs to be developed, where the image quality, brightness, contrast, and resolution are not compromised even if the screen size gets miniaturized. Advanced LED, micro-LED, OLED, and TFT LCD (thin film transistor liquid crystal display) technologies answer this need but also create more challenges. One is passivation and encapsulation of the devices against ambient conditions, air and moisture. This is where ALD shows its strength. The superior conformality(*) and pinhole-free nature of the ALD films, and the possibility to perform the film depositions at moderate temperatures make ALD the ideal technology for advanced display manufacturers.

The same qualities, conformality and uniformity of the coatings over the smallest nanoscale features, trenches and voids, advocate ALD’s use in protection and passivation of semiconductor laser diodes which are widespread in modern telecommunications and data transmission based on fiber optics.

Picosun has also successfully commercialized an ALD-based method with which resolution and imaging properties of TEM (transmission electron microscopy) can be greatly improved. The main application for this method is chip failure analysis in high-volume manufacturing of various semiconductor components.

”We are happy to take our ALD technology to yet new application areas where it creates new, disruptive solutions to our customers’ key challenges. In China, we have been the market leader in research ALD tools for a long time already, and now we are solidifying our position in the industrial market as well. China, Taiwan, and Singapore are key global hubs when it comes to semiconductor manufacturing. There is our largest industrial customer base and expansion potential,” says Mr. Edwin Wu, CEO of Picosun Asia Pte. Ltd.

(*) In PICOSUN™ ALD systems, samples with ultra-high aspect ratios of over 1:2500 have been successfully coated.

ShenZhen Association for Vacuum Technology Industries visits ALD lab at Fraunhofer IKTS

Today we at the Thin Film Technology group of Fraunhofer IKTS in Dresden were honored to be the 2nd stop for the delegation from the ShenZhen Association for Vacuum Technology Industries from China on their European Trip. We presented the latest research and industrialization of Atomic Layer Deposition technology and discussed new opportunities for ALD industrial application.

Shenzhen is one of the most dynamic cities in China. It is located in the southern part of Guangdong Province, next to Hong Kong. Shenzhen is famous for its rapid economic development since the establishment of the special economic zone in 1980. Over the past several decades, Shenzhen has been developed from a small fishing village to currently a modern city featured for innovation and high-tech. Many renowned high-tech companies such as Huawei, Tencent, and BYD are located in Shenzhen.

The next China ALD Confernce will be held in Shenzhen, China, from October 14 to 17, 2018 (LINK)

NCD Contracted with Risen Energy to supply 1.8GW solar cell ALD equipment

NCD recently signed the largest contract with Risen Energy, a Chinese solar cell manufacturer, to provide ALD equipment in the next six months. This agreement is to supply 1.8GW solar cell manufacturing equipment, so it indicates that the superiority and reliability of NCD’s ALD equipment has been fully proven to the customer.

This system is (Lucida GS Series + Automation), the main product of NCD's solar division, to increase the efficiency of solar cells by depositing high quality Al2O3 ALD thin films. Lucida GS Series is batch type ALD deposition equipment that forms backside passivation of Al2O3 on multiple wafers and can process more than 4.500 wafers (@ 4nm thickness) of 156mm x 156mm size per an hour. By applying Lucida GS Series in the production of solar cells, customers can dramatically lower the production cost of high efficiency solar cells due to the high-volume productivity, high yield, efficient gas consumption and low maintenance cost compared to competitors.

Lucida GS Series has become the first choice for ALD process in high efficiency solar cell manufacturing, based on its advantages and excellence. NCD expects to record the best sales by the rapid sales growth in the solar sector in 2018. 

(Lucida GS Series + Automation)