Abstract: Despite the high-end technical blockade in the United States, it involves the research institutes of China Electric Power and the companies affiliated to the institute. However, many insiders worry that the technical blockade will extend to semiconductor equipment or materials. China's semiconductor equipment is important. One of the shortcomings, in the advanced process with the international advanced level has a time difference of 2-6 years, the US-sponsored trade war and high-end technology blockade let us once again deeply aware of this issue. Insiders believe that this may promote the domestic production of semiconductor equipment Speed up the process.
Set micro-network news (text / Xiaobei) On the day of the Jianjun Day, the United States pointed its finger at our military industry. The US Department of Commerce announced that BIS (Industry Security Bureau of the US Department of Commerce) is based on national security and diplomatic interests. , 44 Chinese companies were included in the list of export control entities, most of which are military research enterprises, mainly involving China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (Aerospace Science and Industry) and China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (China Electronics) Part of the business.
This means that the United States officially imposed high-end technical blockade on some enterprises in China.
As we all know, China's military industrial enterprises and colleges and universities have been on the NATO national embargo list since the end of 1989. Many people agree that after 30 years of development, China's military industrial enterprises have become highly localized and autonomous, and they are dependent on the United States. Very low. In fact, companies responsible for military research and manufacturing are not affected much, but other companies involved in civilian products have many direct or indirect contacts with American companies.
According to Caijing, a number of relevant people said that the United States has always been vague in its attitude. This is the first time that it has clearly defined the implementation of 'export control'. At the same time, 44 companies are affected differently because of different business scopes. According to the report, a foreign chip agent sales director said that some chip agents have stopped shipping to these 44 companies, and the spare parts of these companies can only be turned up to three months.
Domestic replacement still takes time, and whether the US high-end technology blockade has spread to the field of semiconductor equipment has received much attention.
Although the US high-end technology blockade involves companies under the China Electronics Division and companies under the Institute. However, many insiders worry that the technical blockade will extend to semiconductor equipment or materials.
Previously, the market showed extreme concern that semiconductor equipment was included in the export control list by the Trump administration. This concern exists in the US market and the Chinese market. Among the top ten semiconductor equipment manufacturers, US manufacturers account for nearly half of the total. Seats, in the context of China's vigorous development of the semiconductor industry, international semiconductor equipment manufacturers have expressed their willingness to help China's semiconductor growth, and optimistic about its opportunities in the Chinese market; and semiconductor equipment has always been China's weakest link, mainly relying on imports, Local semiconductor equipment manufacturers account for only 1-2% of the global market share.
According to the research report of Tianfeng Securities Research Institute, at present, China is at the stage of achieving breakthroughs in mid-range equipment, and the stage of initial industrial chain is set up. High-end processes/products still need to be overcome. In the short term, cooperation with non-US overseas companies can be reduced to reduce dependence on the United States. .
Zhu Jing, director of the Technology Research Department of the Beijing Semiconductor Industry Association, said that some of the 44 military enterprises were blocked by technology for a long time. The current impact is not easy to estimate. There are many opinions that favor domestic equipment, but in fact the process of replacing semiconductor equipment in China is quite Long, so once the technical blockade is upgraded to involve civil services, the damage will be the entire semiconductor industry chain. There is no link, a company can avoid the impact.
Based on the above points, it will take some time to seek replacement of domestic equipment.
So, what is the level of China's semiconductor equipment? Will the US high-end technology blockade affect China's semiconductor equipment/semiconductor equipment manufacturers? Let's analyze these issues in conjunction with Tianfeng Securities' research report.
The status quo of China's semiconductor equipment development level
China's semiconductor equipment manufacturers started late, the overall scale is small. According to the statistics of China Electronics Special Equipment Industry Association, in 2016, China's top ten semiconductor equipment manufacturers completed sales of 4.834 billion yuan, which is far from the domestic equipment market. 2017 The largest volume of CLP and Jingsheng electromechanical revenues are around 1 billion yuan. We estimate that the total domestic equipment sales account for only about 2% of the world semiconductor sales.
There are many types of semiconductor devices, which can be divided into wafer manufacturing equipment, testing equipment, packaging equipment, and front-end related equipment according to the process flow. Among them, wafer manufacturing equipment can be divided into 8 categories. Li Wei, vice president, said that China's equipment has achieved a single breakthrough in some varieties. Plasma etching machines, MOCVD, cleaning agents and other equipment have been localized, but they do not have the complete set of process capabilities for advanced technology.
Tianfeng Securities research data shows that domestic equipment has formed a preliminary industrial chain package layout, and some equipments have been applied in batches. It is expected that some equipment will gradually realize order transfer within 1-2 years in a short period of time. The domestic equipment has realized the complete set of industrial chain layout in key areas. ——Exposure Liho, etching ETCH, thin film CVD, wet WET, inspection, heat treatment, testing, etc., and some process processes can meet the needs of domestic customers. At present, many products have been shipped in batches, among which the main manufacturers There are North Huachuang, Zhongwei Semiconductor, Ruiliikeyi and Shanghai Shengmei Semiconductor.
In addition, from the above figure, we can see that in China, in the field of lithography machines, the technical nodes are far behind the international advanced level. Tianfeng Securities research data shows that the current world semiconductor equipment research and development level is 12 inches 7nm, the production level reaches 12 inches 14nm; The level of equipment research and development in China is still at 12 inches and 14nm, and the production level is 12 inches and 65-28nm. Overall, domestic equipment has a time difference of 2-6 years from the international advanced level in advanced processes; specifically, 65/55/ 40/28nm lithography machine, 40/28nm chemical mechanical polishing machine localization rate is still 0, 28nm chemical vapor deposition equipment, rapid annealing equipment, localization rate is very low.
A well-known IC person once told the micro-grid reporter that the reasons for the backwardness of semiconductor equipment in China are many, not the reasons for the equipment manufacturers themselves. Everyone knows that precision equipment requires precise components, while sophisticated components require precision. The equipment is produced, so the coordinated development of the industry chain is the key to breakthroughs in semiconductor equipment. At present, semiconductor equipment, especially high-end semiconductor equipment, even for autonomous equipment, many key components and process design are still in the US, Japan and Korea. European business in hand.
Comparing the main domestic semiconductor equipment participants of Tianfeng Securities Research with 44 companies listed on the control list, it can be found that these participants have not been included in the list of new export control entities. Explain that these companies may not be strictly 'killed' in key component and process design.
At present, China has achieved a breakthrough from scratch in the field of mid-range equipment. However, the field of lithography has always been the biggest shortcoming in China, the localization rate is extremely low, and the high-end EUV lithography machine can only Purchase from ASML.
Before 2008, China's semiconductor equipment was basically imported. After that, China established the '02 special item' to realize the localization of some equipment, and narrowed the gap with the international leading level. The medium etching machine: Zhongwei Semiconductor entered the 7nm process. Became one of the top five suppliers of TSMC; in the silicon etching machine, North Huachuang entered the SMIC 28nm production line; Shenyang Tuojing produced 12-inch 65nm PECVD equipment, etc. Packaging process equipment: etching machine, PVD, light Key equipment such as engraving machine and washing machine have been basically localized. According to SEMI data, the localization rate of etching equipment has increased from 0% in 10 years to 96% in 16 years, and PVD equipment has been upgraded from 0% in 12 years to 16 years. 68%.
In November 2017, Jiwei.com interviewed Guoke Precision, the only high-end optical technology research and development unit supported by 02. The team is responsible for the exposure optical system of various types of high-end IC manufacturing projection lithography machines such as NA0.82 and NA1.35. Dr. Li Peijun said: 'In 2013, we still don't know whether we can complete this project. After all, there is a blank situation in this field, and the difficulty of the project lies in, besides mechanical materials and Optical materials can be supplied through 'takenism', all others rely on themselves, such as optical processing, optical inspection, etc. Our team has a strong mission, so working overtime on weekends and staying up all night is a spontaneous act. It is proud that In just a few years, we have completed this project. '
It can be seen that China is extremely difficult in the process of promoting the autonomous semiconductor equipment, especially the lithography machine and related equipment.
Helping the development of China's IC industry, semiconductor equipment listed companies continue to expand industrial layout
North Huachuang, the leader of domestic semiconductor equipment, North Huachuang was reorganized by Qixing Electronics and Northern Microelectronics. Its main products include high-end electronic process equipment and precision electronic devices, and built semiconductor equipment, vacuum equipment, new energy lithium equipment and precision electronics. Four major industrial platforms for components, ETCH, PVD, cleaning machine, oxidation furnace, LOCVD (low pressure chemical vapor deposition), ALD (atomic layer deposition) and gas quality controller (MFC), etc. The equipment leader, the research and development ability is leading in the country, and the order is continuously verified. Nowadays, the North Huachuang 28mm equipment has been commercialized one after another, and the plasma etching machine applied to the 14mm process is in the research and development stage.
North Huachuang is also expanding its industrial layout and production capacity. For example, in 2017, it acquired Akrion Systems LLC of the United States and expanded its line of cleaning equipment. In May this year, North Huachuang Phase II Project