China Micro-Semiconductor is the first company to invest after the establishment of the National Integrated Circuit Industry Fund (Big Fund). In January 2017, the State Council’s State Council of Science and Technology (PCAST) issued a State of the Union address to ensure US long-term leadership in the semiconductor industry. In the report, the chip design, manufacturing, equipment, materials and packaging industries of China's integrated circuits are analyzed. The only Chinese company mentioned in the 32-page report is Zhongwei (AMEC).
'The godfather of the domestic equipment industry' Yin Zhiwei, the history of entrepreneurship and the 'father of China's semiconductor' Zhang Yujing is very similar
As one of the founders of Zhongwei Semiconductor, Dr. Yin Zhiwei, currently the chairman of China Micro, is in the process of starting a business in the domestic semiconductor equipment industry. He has a very similar background with the founder of SMIC, Zhang Yujing.
Zhang Yujing founded Shida Integrated Circuit (WSMC) from Texas Instruments in the United States and SMIC in Shanghai. Yin Zhiyi was retired from the US application materials at the age of 60 and went to Shanghai to establish Zhongwei, and in the past 11 years. In the three rounds of legal proceedings against international big companies, he successfully retired and set a legendary page in the history of Chinese semiconductor development.
DT Jun exclusive interview with Yin Zhizhen, even if he contributed to the excellence of China's semiconductor equipment technology, he is still a modest and literary style.
At the beginning of the interview, the first sentence of his '嘱咐' DT Jun was nothing else. I hope that this interview should not be too much personal deeds, because Zhongwei was not founded by him alone, and the entrepreneurial team that returned to China from the United States. There are 15 people, and they are still important backbones of the company, including Zhu Xinping, vice president of global business, Du Zhiyou, senior vice president, Ni Tuqiang, deputy general, etc. The achievements of Zhongwei today are the joint efforts of all.
Yin Zhixuan also stressed that Zhongwei is engaged in industrial technology development and commercial competition. It does not want to raise it to the height of politics and strategy and do excessive rendering.
However, if the reader knows Yin Zhizhen's life story, he can understand his career, the entrepreneurial process, and why it is one of the important standards that cannot be ignored in the development of China's semiconductor industry.
Semiconductor development is like a trip, capital, talent, policy is indispensable
In recent years, the chip industry is on the cusp. Many people say that China's semiconductor industry has been developing for a long time, but this year is a year of 'winding'.
Yin Zhi’s remarks pointed out that China’s semiconductor industry is still very weak. The biggest contradiction is asymmetric competition. The scale of Chinese enterprises is one-tenth to one-twentieth of that of foreign-invested enterprises. R&D investment is only one-tenth to two of foreign companies. One tenth, how can it grow and develop under this asymmetric competitive situation?
Yin Zhiyu described the development of the semiconductor chip industry as if it were a trip. Ding has three legs: capital, talents and policies. As long as the three legs are strong and balanced, the industry's tripod will be successfully launched. Flocking, it seems that the situation is very good, but there are three serious imbalances: the funds are big, the talents are seriously insufficient, and the policies to promote industrial development need to be further improved and upgraded.
This wave of funds is concentrated in chip manufacturing, accounting for more than 90% of the total investment. However, equipment and materials account for 80% of the cost of chip manufacturing plants, and the share of investment is less than 5%, which is a serious imbalance.
According to SEMI statistics, China accounted for 15% of global semiconductor sales in 2017, ranking third in the world. It is expected to climb to the second place in the world in 2019. However, China's domestic IC equipment self-made rate is less than 5%, still struggling among giants. .
Another problem is that almost all of the capital investment is equity capital, but lack of long-term low-interest loans and R&D project funding. Simple equity capital is put into the chip production line, which cannot achieve the expected return.
In terms of policies, investment and financing policies, income tax, import and export, labor law, industrial chain localization, employee option incentives and IPO listing policies need to be properly adjusted. Many related policies are from the early stage of reform and opening up to promote the introduction of technology. , the preparation of the processing, and should now be fully re-examined.
Yin Zhiwei emphasized that if these three imbalances can be quickly resolved, the domestic semiconductor chip industry will develop at a high speed, health and balance.
The key equipment of semiconductors is not only 'lithographic machine', the demand for 'plasma etching machine' below 7 nanometers is growing rapidly.
Micro-Semiconductor is the most critical equipment in the production of chips: supplier of plasma etching machine and chemical film equipment.
Observing the evolution of the semiconductor industry, from the 128K tube computer in the 1950s to the 128K memory device in the 1980s, to the 128G Flash in 2015, the micro-processing capability of humans has shrunk by 1 trillion times, which means If you return today's mobile phone back 50 years ago, it is equivalent to 2 million five-story buildings filled with tubes.
The key to the realization of micro-processing capability comes from nearly ten key processes in the chip manufacturing process, namely, thermal process, Litho, plasma etching (Etch), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physical sputtering. Membrane (PVD), ion implantation (Ion Implant), chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), cleaning, etc. Devices belonging to these procedures are diffusion furnaces, lithography machines, plasma etching machines, chemical vapor deposition equipment, physical sputtering equipment. , ion implanters, chemical polishers and washing machines.
Generally speaking, semiconductor equipment, the first thing that comes to mind is the lithography machine, as if there is a lithography machine, all the chip manufacturing problems are solved. However, the chip manufacturing process is extremely complicated, and only the lithography machine can not complete the production. Wafer.
In chip manufacturing, there are three most critical programs: lithography, plasma etching, and chemical vapor deposition. The process is repeated in the process of wafer fabrication, and the output value of the device is also the highest. If it is difficult, lithography Technology is the most technically difficult device, and the difficulty of plasma etching comes from the difficulty of developing thousands of processes.
Semiconductor process technology has reached a 14-nanometer, 10-nanometer structure, requiring double-patterning (Double Patterning) exposure technology, so the need for integrated design of etching and thin film has been greatly improved to meet the requirements of smaller line widths. It makes the combination of etching machine and chemical film become the more important key step in the chip manufacturing process.
Furthermore, the evolution of 2D NAND into 3D NAND technology has also reduced the demand for lithography, and the demand for etch and chemical film has increased, making these two devices the fastest growing product in the market. The annual growth rate is over 16%. Among them, plasma etching has accounted for 22% of the total equipment investment, and officially exceeds the lithography machine.
China’s fables fables make Yin Zhizhen unwilling to help foreign companies marry for the rest of their lives.
Talking about the process of creating Zhongwei to build independent technology equipment for China's semiconductor industry, Yin Zhizhen believes that it is important to enter an industry and choose the market segmentation option. The etching machine is on the market track of rapid growth, and the annual demand has exceeded 7 billion US dollars, and by 2025 is expected to reach 15 billion US dollars. Put the market well, the growth of China and the United States naturally continue to rise.
At present, China Micro has broken through the barriers of the etching machine market by American Applied Materials, Lam Research, and Japan's TEL foreign companies. It has penetrated into the top five suppliers in the world and has entered many international customers including TSMC, Intel, and UMC. GlobalFoundries, SMIC, Huali, Yangtze River Storage, Bosch and STMicroelectronics and other 40 production lines.
Yin Zhizhen has been working in the field of physicochemical reactors for 50 years. Before coming to the United States in 1980, he worked in the research and industrial production of catalysts and reactors in the petrochemical industry and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. After receiving his Ph.D. in the United States, he worked for Intel. Pan-Ran Development, Applied Materials and other international semiconductor manufacturers.
14 years ago, Yin Zhizhen, who had retired from Yingcai, looked at China's fables fabs. The whole heart was not willing to learn to be married for a lifetime. It is felt that Asian semiconductors are developing rapidly and China is changing more. More than a dozen of them are determined to return to China and contribute to the emerging Chinese IC industry.
Small shrimps on the big whales, three international big factory patents, the big knife cuts all miracles
China Micro's legend in the semiconductor industry in China is not only a breakthrough in the monopoly of key technologies. In its 14 years of business, it has been attacked by a large-scale patent infringement lawsuit against the 'big whales' in the form of 'small shrimps'. Passive to active, has been invincible, is also a legend.
Time returned to 2007, when the etching machine developed by Weigang in that year was about to enter the most advanced foundry production line in the world, his old club believed that there was a thief, so in the US federal court. bring the action.
In order to prove his innocence, Zhongwei hired a first-class intellectual property litigation lawyer in the United States. It took two and a half years to thoroughly investigate more than 6 million documents and more than 30 computers and documents. The drawings, technical data and trade secrets of the materials, the lawsuit finally got reconciled.
Speaking of this history, and later on the Internet, Yin Zhizhen especially stressed with DT Jun that online and his colleagues returned to China from the United States in the same year, the computer was inspected by the US authorities, and all the 6 million documents were confiscated. Rendering of false reports is a side effect of raising business competition unnecessarily to other levels.
Before the lawsuit of Zhongwei and Yingcai had not been settled, another American competitor: Fanlin R&D turned to China Micro.
Panlin R&D sued Zhongwei's patent infringement in Taiwan in 2009. Yin Zhisheng said that when the company was founded, it studied the other party's patent and confirmed that its patent is invalid. Even if the opponent's patent is valid, the micro-design is different. , also did not infringe its patents.
After only 8 months in the lawsuit, Zhongwei won the first trial, and the other party’s appeal was rejected by the court four times. In the process, Zhongwei has more solid evidence to indicate that the other party has stolen the technical documents of the medium and micro-confidence. And told the court in Shanghai that the final victory in the lawsuit.
The third patent litigation came fierce, and once the products of Zhongwei were embargoed.
Seeing here, you can know that China Micro's entrepreneurial process is all along the way to the big children. And in the 2017, LED equipment manufacturer Veeco sue MOCVD graphite pallet supplier in the US District Court of New York. The graphite pallets supplied to Zhongwei infringed Veeco's patents, and Zhongwei also immediately took counter-actions and counterattacked the patents of the Chinese Patent Office and other national patent authorities against Veeco's patents.
However, in the US courts, it is still valid whether the Veeco patent is valid. When the micro-design is infringed, the US first announced the ban on the shipment of graphite pallets, so that the micro-micro is unable to obtain the supply, because the graphite disc is a consumable part, this one The change has almost stopped production of LED customers using medium-micro MOCVD equipment.
Afterwards, Weiwei v. Veeco's patent invalidation was approved, and the design of the Veeco pallet lock was infringed in the Fujian court. Finally, the Fujian High Court also imposed a shipping ban on Veeco's import of China's MOCVD equipment. A series of actions made Veeco have to compromise. In addition to reconciliation negotiations with China Micro, in addition to revoking related litigation, it further agreed to share the graphite pallet patent with China Micro.
Only 18 months to take off domestic MOCVD equipment 70% market share, another miracle of domestic equipment
When it comes to the development of MOCVD equipment, mass production to the domestic market share sweeps thousands of troops, is another pride of China and the United States.
In 2009, the blue LED boom hit the global market. The government subsidized LED companies and encouraged the establishment of LED production lines. At that time, the MOCVD equipment market was dominated by two foreign companies: Veeco and Aixtron.
Between 2009 and 2010, there are as many as 54 companies and research institutes in China planning to develop MOCVD equipment, and they want to take advantage of this wave of enthusiasm. At least 25 of them have started development, but after 7 years, the real amount Only the Zhongwei family is produced.
Since 2016, China Micro has spent more than 70% on the MOCVD equipment market in China in just 18 months, replacing the industry that was originally controlled by the United States and Germany, and has won an incredible victory!
How was the miracle created? Yin Zhiwei said that we use the highest level of semiconductor technology to do MOCVD machines, and this product is very similar to the CVD technology that Micron has done. Other companies can make 'prototypes', but the prototype is just Complete 20% of device development.
Three times in the infringement lawsuit of the international big factory, the second time, the whole body retreats, the stronger the step by step, the more intense, Yin Zhizhen emphasizes the importance of attaching importance to intellectual property rights.
To do global business, we must respect national laws and respect intellectual property rights.
He worked for the American business in his early years. He treated every career change very seriously. He did not carry any information to the new company, and never infringed any patents. He also required all employees to join the company. He stressed that the integrated circuit It is an international industry. To enter this industry, we must abide by China, and we must abide by the laws of the United States in order to be a global business. If we are sanctioned in violation of the law, we must not limit this to the political level.
Yin Zhizhen believes that Chinese people have a certain talent for integrated circuits. As long as efforts are made, the process must respect intellectual property rights. After decades of industrial development, many of the technological developments of the predecessors have been in the front, and joined later. It is impossible for people not to learn from their predecessors, but they must respect the intellectual property rights of others, detour, or pay royalties.
Since 2012, Zhongwei's annual revenue growth rate has remained at 35% for the past 6 years. The annual revenue growth of these two years is more than 50%. For the future of China and the United States, Yin Zhisheng said that he hopes that in 2028 Reaching 10 billion yuan in revenue, it has entered the top five enterprises of international process equipment companies in scale.
Yin Zhiwei emphasized that integrated circuits are a globalized industry and cannot be turned into an industry monopolized by any single country. It is undeniable that in recent decades, the technology development and large-scale production of chips and the semiconductor equipment industry have extended to Asia. The rise of the integrated circuit industry is bound to happen after the development of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. No one can stop this trend.
As Yin Zhizhen said, the take-off of China's IC industry is a historical necessity, and it is a trend that no force can stop. However, this is an international industry. It must be open and must not be like some people. It is necessary to pay close attention to intellectual property rights in order to protect the healthy development of the industry. Only in this way can China's integrated circuit industry truly connect with the international market and catch up with the world's advanced level.