Hotspot Focus
On September 3, 2016, the Strategic Alliance for Technological Innovation in the Integrated Circuit Materials and Components Industry (hereinafter referred to as the “Materials and Components Alliance”) convened its first meeting of the Working Group on the Technology and Industrial Development Roadmap for Key Components in Beijing. The meeting focused primarily on discussing the outline for drafting the Roadmap and making arrangements for the next steps. More than 40 participants attended the meeting, including Director Qiu Gang from the Office of Major Special Projects of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Deputy Chief Engineer Zhu Lihong from China Electronics Technology Group, Senior Director Zheng Jingde from the Operations Efficiency Optimization Department of SMIC, Secretary-General Shi Ying from the Strategic Alliance for Technological Innovation in the Integrated Circuit Materials and Components Industry, and representatives from the specialized working groups of the Roadmap.
The global CMP consumables market continues to grow, driven in part by emerging applications in 3D logic, NAND flash memory, and packaging—each of which demands significantly enhanced planarization performance and minimal defect rates to meet the performance requirements of a wide array of advanced electronic devices. “Logic and memory chip companies that manufacture advanced semiconductor wafers are facing ever-growing challenges: they must adapt to constantly evolving demands, enhance performance, reduce costs, and simultaneously maximize production yields. As a result, CMP has become a critical factor in the semiconductor manufacturing process, and its use is steadily increasing,” says Dow Electronic Materials CMP Technologies.
Employing a gap-inhibition-type tungsten-filled contact region process to reduce yield loss.
Author: Jonathan Bakke, Global Manager of Contact and Interconnect Product Lines, Metal Deposition Products Division, Applied Materials. In earlier technology nodes, when device dimensions were larger, tungsten (W) filling could be achieved using nucleation and planarization chemical vapor deposition (CVD) techniques. Today, however, due to the extremely small openings in vias, dangling structures are prone to occur. As a result, the conformal growth stage—during which the thin film is supposed to grow uniformly across the surface—may close or become pinched off before filling is complete, leaving behind voids. Even if no voids are present, since the fill material grows from the sidewalls, a central gap will inevitably form during conformal deposition. These characteristics make it...
Introduction to the Global Photoresist Patent Analysis Report (Part 4)
The top ten patent holders of global photoresist patents, ranked by the number of valid patents held, are shown in the figure below, in the following order: Tokyo Ohka Kogyo of Japan, Shin-Etsu Chemical of Japan, Dow Chemical of the United States, Sumitomo Chemical of Japan, Fujifilm of Japan, Amkor Technology of the United States, Synthetic Rubber of Japan, Dongjin SeimiKang of South Korea, IBM of the United States, and Samsung Electronics of South Korea. Among these, five are Japanese companies, three are U.S. companies, and two are South Korean companies. There are significant differences among these companies in terms of the volume of photoresist patent applications, legal status, countries where patents have been published, and especially their technological strengths. The Materials and Components Alliance has conducted a systematic and in-depth analysis of global photoresist patents, including the global...
Introduction to the Global Photoresist Patent Analysis Report (Part 3)
There are a total of 5,483 patents related to the development of photoresists worldwide, among which 3,726 patents pertain to resins used in photoresists. The specific classification of these resin patents and the proportion of each category are shown in the chart above. Currently, among the resin patents for photoresists, resins used in G-line, I-line, 248nm, 193nm, DUV, and immersion 193nm lithography account for 88% of all such patents. Here, "DUV" refers to resin patents that can be used for both 248nm and 193nm photoresists, while "immersion 193nm" refers specifically to resin patents designed for immersion 193nm photoresists. At present, the photoresists with the largest market value in the industry are also predominantly those based on G-line and I-line technologies.
On July 28, the mass-production ceremony for 14-nanometer bump processing at SMIC ChangElectronics Semiconductor Co., Ltd. was held in Jiangyin. This marks a significant milestone: China’s mid-end semiconductor manufacturing process has now advanced to the internationally most advanced mass-production technology chain. SMIC ChangElectronics Semiconductor is the country’s first 12-inch mid-end silicon wafer manufacturing project, jointly invested in and built by SMIC, ChangElec Technology, the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, and Qualcomm of the United States. With the development of the mobile smart era, integrated circuit chips are facing ever-increasing demands for performance, power consumption, and area. Traditional chip architectures are becoming increasingly inadequate, making mid-end processes an essential component of the semiconductor manufacturing value chain.
Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., Ltd. has been officially established.
On July 26, 2016, Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as YMTC) was officially established. The company’s registered capital was contributed in two phases. The first phase was jointly funded by the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund Co., Ltd., Hubei Guoxin Industry Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership), and Hubei Provincial Science and Technology Investment Group Co., Ltd. YMTC was established on the basis of Wuhan Xinxin Integrated Circuit Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Wuhan Xinxin). Zhao Weiguo serves as Chairman of the Board of YMTC, Ding Wenwu and Yang Daohong serve as Vice Chairmen, Wang Jizeng serves as Supervisor, and Yang Shining serves as General Manager. Wuhan Xinxin will be a subsidiary of YMTC.
Introduction to the Global Photoresist Patent Analysis Report (Part 1)
There are a total of 5,483 global patents related to photoresists and associated materials. These patents cover all aspects of the materials required for the preparation and application of photoresists, including resins, monomers, photogenerated acid generators, additives, complementary reagents, auxiliary materials, and their respective manufacturing processes. The proportion of each type of patent is shown in the classification chart mentioned above. As can be seen, resins account for the largest share, making them the area of photoresist technology that has attracted the most attention in the industry; followed by photogenerated acid generators, complementary reagents, and auxiliary materials. Figure 2 illustrates the distribution of global photoresist patents according to their earliest filing year. The earliest patent applications for photoresists date back to 1962, and around 1979, the number of applications began to increase steadily. 2
Introduction to the Global Photoresist Patent Analysis Report (Part 2)
The global patents for photoresist development are primarily concentrated in six major regions: Japan, the United States, South Korea, China, Europe, and Taiwan. The proportion of photoresist patents held by each region is shown in the chart above. As the chart reveals, there are significant differences in the number of photoresist patents held by these six regions: Japan has the largest share, followed by the United States, then South Korea, China, Europe, and Taiwan. Moreover, there are substantial variations among these regions in terms of patent application trends, legal status, publication country status, patent owner profiles, citation patterns, and technical characteristics. The Materials and Components Alliance has conducted a systematic and in-depth analysis of global photoresist patents, covering an overview of global photoresist R&D patents; Europe...
Since its establishment in 2012, the Materials Alliance has carried out extensive work in promoting cooperation across the industrial chain, fostering exchanges between industry and academia, facilitating international exchanges and collaboration, and supporting government and industry initiatives. Currently, the level of industrial application of certain materials used in integrated circuit manufacturing in China has advanced to 28-nanometer technology. Among domestic 8- to 12-inch integrated circuit fabrication plants, the number of material types sourced from the Alliance has reached 19, with procurement proportions exceeding 50%. The Alliance Secretariat, in coordination with the implementation of the “02 Special Project,” has achieved remarkable results in advancing the mass production and application of project outcomes as well as enhancing related technologies, and has accumulated rich experience in this process. This experience underscores the critical role of materials in integrated circuit manufacturing.
Dinglong Shares’ CMP project is about to begin pilot production.
Dinglong Shares (23.42, -0.47, -1.97%) (300054): The CMP project is currently undergoing equipment installation and commissioning and will soon begin pilot production. Building on its initial investment of 100 million yuan last March in the production of CMP polishing materials and other semiconductor materials, the company further increased its investment by 116 million yuan in February of this year to launch Phase II of the project, firmly reinforcing its strategic positioning in the semiconductor materials sector. Once the project reaches full capacity, CMP polishing pad production capacity will reach 500,000 units, generating an additional annual sales revenue of 1 billion yuan and after-tax profits of 350 million yuan. Following the project’s commissioning, the company will initiate evaluation and testing activities with downstream customers. If these efforts proceed smoothly, the company plans to continue expanding production.
Originally dominated by U.S. and Japanese manufacturers, South Korea’s semiconductor equipment market has gradually shown promising results thanks to the country’s vigorous efforts to promote domestic production, and is starting to replace imported products. Recently, mainland China has begun to foster its own semiconductor industry, creating favorable prospects for South Korean semiconductor equipment suppliers to export to and enter the Chinese market. According to a report by DigitalTimes, South Korean semiconductor giant SK Hynix has become a new customer of KCTech, purchasing chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) equipment. KCTech is currently a CMP equipment supplier for Samsung Electronics, and now it has also secured an order from SK Hynix—furthermore,
Pall announces its latest XpressKleen filter.
The 5nm XpressKleen™ filter is a key component of Pall’s disposable PFA (Perfluoroalkoxyalkanes) KleenChange® assemblies. The new filter was featured at SEMICON West 2016. The filter is designed to meet the growing challenges of sub-
On the 7th, TSMC’s Nanjing plant held a groundbreaking ceremony, officially announcing the start of construction and marking the launch of actual factory building. Mass production using the 16-nanometer process is expected to begin in the second half of 2018, with an initial monthly production capacity of 20,000 wafers. TSMC’s Nanjing facility is located in the Qiaolin area of the Pukou Economic Development Zone in the Jiangbei New Area. The site covers an area of 136,000 ping, with a land-use right duration of 50 years. TSMC plans to invest 3 billion U.S. dollars in the Jiangbei New Area to build this plant. Industry analysts predict that once the Nanjing plant goes into operation, TSMC’s global market share for wafers will rise from 55% to 57%. TSMC’s 3-billion-dollar investment is expected to stimulate industrial development worth over 30 billion U.S. dollars.
Looking at the performance of Taiwan’s IC packaging and testing industry this year, the Industrial Economics & Knowledge Center (IEK) of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) estimates that Taiwan’s overall IC packaging and testing output value will reach approximately NT$450 billion this year, representing a growth of about 2% over last year’s NT$441.3 billion. Specifically, this year’s IC packaging output is forecast to grow by 1.6% compared to last year, while the IC testing industry’s output is expected to increase by 2.7%. From a global perspective, ITRI’s IEK anticipates that the share of global outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) services will continue to rise, while the share of integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) will keep declining. If we look at packaging and testing separately, ITRI’s IEK forecasts...
Global second-largest packaging and testing firm, U.S.-based Amkor, has also decided to seize the growth opportunities in China’s semiconductor market. It announced the launch of a new packaging line for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and sensors in Shanghai, bringing its services closer to customers and enabling them to capture a larger share of the Chinese market. Amkor emphasized that this strategic move is driven by the rapid growth in demand for sensors in China’s smart phones, IoT devices, and smart vehicles. John Donaghey, Vice President of Amkor’s Mainstream Products Division, noted that the development of MEMS and sensors requires close collaboration between component engineers and packaging specialists. With the opening of this new packaging line in Shanghai, Amkor is positioning itself to better serve the Chinese market.
Global second-largest packaging and testing firm, U.S.-based Amkor, has also decided to seize the growth opportunities in China’s semiconductor market. It announced the launch of a new packaging line for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and sensors in Shanghai, bringing its services closer to customers and enabling them to capture a larger share of the Chinese market. Amkor emphasized that this strategic move is driven by the rapid growth in demand for sensors in China’s smart phones, IoT devices, and smart vehicles. John Donaghey, Vice President of Amkor’s Mainstream Products Division, noted that the development of MEMS and sensors requires close collaboration between component engineers and packaging specialists. With the opening of this new packaging line in Shanghai, Amkor is positioning itself to better serve the Chinese market.
Applied Materials Achieves a New Breakthrough in Etching Technology
A groundbreaking etching technology achieves atomic-level etching precision, thereby driving the advancement of Moore’s Law. As chip architectures become increasingly sophisticated, this ultra-selective process can remove unwanted materials without damaging the chip itself. The system has already gained favor among leading chip manufacturers and is being used to produce advanced FinFET and memory chips. According to a report on June 29, Applied Materials recently achieved a new breakthrough in etching technology by launching the industry’s first ultra-selective etching tool—the AppliedProducer® Selectra™ system. By introducing entirely new material engineering capabilities, this system will help accelerate the development of 3D logic chips and memory devices.
© 2025 Zhongguancun Integrated Circuit Materials Industry Technology Innovation Alliance
Beijing Public Security Bureau Filing No. 11010102005379
Website construction:China Enterprise DynamicsBeijing