First, the establishment of a sound material system is an inevitable requirement of industrial development
From the overall development of the integrated circuit industry, manufacturing is the key to the development of the entire industry. To expand the manufacturing industry, there is market space for the development of China's integrated circuit materials industry. But without the corresponding industrial ecosystem, the integrated circuit manufacturing industry is hard to stand out. The industrial ecosystem can be understood as two dimensions: horizontal and vertical. From a horizontal perspective, it includes integrated circuit design, manufacturing, packaging, equipment, materials, and professional financial and intermediary services. Materials are an important part of this ecosystem. . From the vertical perspective of integrated circuit materials, it is necessary to have large-scale leading enterprises as the pillars of the industry, and also need a group of small and medium-sized enterprises to cooperate. There must also be a group of professional universities and research institutions, and each link supports each other to form a synergy to promote the benign nature of the whole industry. development of.
There is a relatively complete support of the industrial ecosystem, which is crucial for the safe and reliable development of the manufacturing industry and continuous technological progress. The localization of the material supply chain not only benefits the control of manufacturing costs, the rapid and timely response of services, and the controllability of technology, but also the benefits of industrial synergies. In this regard, the development of South Korea's Samsung Group is a good case. Time has receded to 20 years ago, and the shadow of Korean companies is hardly seen in the global integrated circuit material system. Today, South Korea's LG-Siltron has become the world's fifth largest silicon wafer supplier, and Korea's Dongjin has become an influence in the Asia-Pacific region. The main supplier of photoresists and related chemicals, and more to show that Samsung has developed into the world's second largest integrated circuit product supplier after INTEL. China's integrated circuit industry must be successful in its development. From now on, it should be based on the planning, improvement and improvement of the entire industry chain.
The coordinated development of the industrial chain should also be an advantage of China. At present, silicon materials, masks, electronic gases, process chemicals, photoresists, polishing materials, targets, packaging materials, etc. for integrated circuit manufacturing have a number of related enterprises in China. China also has non-ferrous metals for producing these materials. The organic and inorganic chemical industry base, as well as the mineral resources endowment, the basic industry is relatively complete, which is an advantage that other integrated circuits in other countries and regions do not have. The problem is that the technical requirements for materials used in integrated circuit manufacturing are almost close to the limits of their technological development, the requirements for quality control are extremely high, and the price of products must be economical. These materials are no exceptions to the highest end of all kinds of materials, and our shortcomings are the lack of comprehensive strength to the high-end field.
Second, the integration of integrated circuit materials industry into high-end areas is facing difficulties
At present, the number of integrated circuit materials companies in China is quite large, but most of them are concentrated in the low-end parts of materials for production lines of 6 inches and below. The supply of materials required for production lines of 8 inches and above is basically dependent on international companies. In addition to the technical factors, the common challenge to the high-end link is that the capital demand is huge and needs to be continuously invested. For example, a monthly production capacity of 100,000 90-nanometer 300mm silicon wafer production lines requires an investment of 3 billion yuan, and the 90-nanometer silicon wafer market is soon replaced by 45 nanometers. Further requirements are 22 nanometers or even 14 nanometers. In the case of recovery, the key process equipment and testing equipment should be upgraded and reconfigured. The same is true for photoresists, process chemicals, polishing materials, etc. Although the investment volume is not as large as that of silicon materials, the input intensity is 10 times and dozens of times compared with similar materials for the general market.
More difficult to overcome than the funding problem is the entry barrier for materials. Because the material has a great relationship to the stable operation of the entire manufacturing line, the manufacturer is reluctant to change suppliers. At present, China's high-end integrated circuit production lines are applied by international companies. Even if domestic manufacturing companies attach great importance to the localization of materials, they can actively cooperate with the efforts of materials companies, but the long certification process is a difficult problem for materials companies. . After the materials are inspected and passed through the factory, they must pass the stand-alone test, small batch on-line inspection, and user product reliability certification. The time for successfully passing this cycle is usually one and a half to two years, and the material enterprises cannot achieve this process. Product sales must also keep the production line stable and continue to supply products to users. Many small-scale, single-product materials companies can't last for such a long time.
Another problem is the lack of willingness of material companies to move to the high end. Due to their limited size and financial resources, small specialized materials companies dare not risk developing high-end products, mostly concentrated in the low-end market, resulting in homogenization and price competition. The traditional large-scale chemical, non-ferrous and other materials companies have the production and capital advantages of basic materials, and have the conditions for the development of fine products. Although the profits of such high-end products such as integrated circuit materials are higher than those of basic products, their products are technically difficult, demanding quality control is strict, operation management is highly lean, customer service requirements are meticulous, and high-end talents are highly dependent. Enterprises that produce and sell large commodities are difficult, slow, and have insufficient market capacity. The input and output in the short term are not proportional. The current status quo is that international companies import low-cost basic raw materials from China, use their advanced technology and management to produce refined high-end products, and then export them to Chinese manufacturing enterprises at high prices.
Third, China's integrated circuit manufacturing materials industry breakthrough development ushered in a historical opportunity period
With the support of relevant national science and technology programs such as the 02 special project, some materials have begun to enter the 8-inch manufacturing plant in batches, polishing liquid for CMP process, sputtering target, copper plating solution and additives, high-purity nitrogen trifluoride and tungsten hexafluoride. Other materials have been applied to the 12-inch production line, and a batch of materials are undergoing application certification. While attaching importance to technology development, related companies have also increased their ability to improve quality control, lean management, and customer service, and the comprehensive capabilities of the industry have improved. The release of the "National Integrated Circuit Industry Development Promotion Program" will guide manufacturing into a new round of construction line climax. According to the development goal of the "Outline", the sales revenue of the integrated circuit industry will exceed 350 billion by 2015. By 2020, the annual growth rate of sales of the whole industry will exceed 20%. This means that the material market will expand by more than 50% on the current basis, and it will grow at an average annual growth rate of 20%. The market space is huge and the development prospect is expected to be broad.
In the brewing stage of the "Outline" has not been officially introduced, it has already played a great guiding role in the material industry. Private high-tech enterprises involved in high-end materials have strengthened their business development confidence, and private investment institutions have also paid more attention to material companies with better growth potential. They have sought opportunities to cooperate with related companies, and some private listed companies have also turned their attention to integrated circuit materials industry. The situation of small business financing difficulties has eased.
Some large-scale basic raw material enterprises with strong financial strength have also begun to pay attention to the field of high-end integrated circuit materials. Some chemical companies have set up integrated circuit materials branches or business divisions. The original basic raw material industries of these companies continue to develop problems such as environmental pressure, small room for product appreciation, and serious competition for homogenization. The enterprises themselves need product structure adjustment and technology upgrade. At the same time, their regions also have requirements for economic transformation and development. The entry of these large enterprises will greatly change the industry structure of integrated circuit materials and bring momentum to the development of the industry.
The emergence of new industrial organizations such as industrial alliances plays a supporting role in the development of the materials industry. The practice of the integrated circuit materials industry technology innovation strategic alliance initiated by domestic integrated circuit manufacturing enterprises, various materials manufacturers, related research institutions and universities has been running for more than a year. It shows that industrial alliances are accelerating the formation of industrial ecosystems and promoting industries. Collaborative innovation and business cooperation in all aspects of the chain, as well as future international cooperation and industrial integration, have begun to play a role.
China's integrated circuit materials industry is facing a period of strategic opportunities for high-end development. At this time, the industrial fund will focus on supporting, driving and guiding social capital investment, further stimulating the vitality and creativity of enterprises, increasing the development of independent technology and international technical cooperation, promoting the coordinated development of the industrial chain, and enabling conditional materials and integrated circuits. The simultaneous development of manufacturing industry, simultaneous certification, and simultaneous mass production have, to a certain extent, changed the passive situation of advanced domestically replaced domestically. With the joint efforts of national policy support, market demand drive, enterprise self-effort, and industry chain close cooperation, China's integrated circuit materials industry will be able to achieve leap-forward development and become an important force in the international integrated circuit materials industry. (transferred from China Electronics News)