In response to the rumors that the Dutch ASML company has delayed the supply of EUV lithography machines, SMIC has just issued a statement, emphasizing that “EUV (extreme ultraviolet light) is still in the paper stage”, and the company is currently operating normally.
According to previous reports, SMIC ordered an EUV lithography machine from ASML in April 2018. Although the specific situation has not been announced, the EUV lithography machine is usually priced at 120 million euros, worth nearly 1 billion yuan. The core and most expensive equipment in the semiconductor manufacturing process.
According to the progress, SMIC should receive this lithography machine by the end of this year, and complete the installation and commissioning next year. It is mainly used to study 7nm and below processes, not for mass production. not to this extent.
Regarding ASML’s delay in supplying EUV lithography machines, SMIC told the media in the afternoon, “Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) is still in the working stage on paper, and no related activities have been carried out. The company’s advanced technology research and development is progressing smoothly. At present, research and development and production Everything is working fine. Client and device import is working fine.”
According to the news released in SMIC’s Q2 quarterly financial report, 14nm has entered the stage of customer risk mass production. At present, there are more than 10 tape-out chips. It will be officially mass-produced this fall and will contribute meaningful revenue by the end of the year. until 2021.
After 14nm, there is an improved 12nm FinFET process. According to SMIC’s previous introduction, this process has further reduced the size of the 14nm transistor, reduced power consumption by 20%, improved performance by 10%, and reduced error rate by 20%. It has also entered customers. The introduction stage is progressing smoothly, and it is expected that there will be multiple chip tape-out verifications by the end of the year.
In the future, SMIC said that there will be a second-generation FinFET process to catch up with the advanced level. It is expected that there will be test production capacity by the end of 2020, not only N+1, but also a more advanced generation of N+2 nodes. However, the specific process levels of N+1 and N+2 have not been disclosed. The former is likely to be the 7nm process under development.
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