The ion beam etching (IBE) series products independently developed by Beijing Sanhe Lian Technology Co., Ltd. adopt radio frequency ion source technology and have excellent process stability and repeatability, suitable for failure analysis, metal etching, magnetic material etching and other related applications.
Beijing Sanhelian believes that:
Thin film deposition equipment CVD and PVD are being developed simultaneously, and domestic equipment manufacturers should strengthen research and mass production in the fields of PECVD, ALD, and PVD with large quantities and wide coverage.
The expansion and efficiency improvement of downstream wafer fabs, the increase in the proportion of advanced production lines in logic chip foundries, and the popularization of 3D NAND technology will further promote the industry space expansion of thin film deposition equipment, and the demand for precision and diversification of thin film processes and materials will stimulate more industry growth points, providing new opportunities for domestic substitution;
The localization of semiconductor equipment is a major systematic project. Domestic thin film deposition equipment manufacturers need to start by strengthening research and development, focusing on patent pools, and also need contract factories in the supply chain to provide domestic design manufacturers with more opportunities for verification and trial and error, and to continuously develop and grow through mergers and acquisitions.
The realization of independent and controllable semiconductor industry chain in our country is crucial for semiconductor equipment, which directly affects whether chip design can be completed physically, whether product reliability and yield can meet design standards, and whether the domestic industry can participate in global competition. And wafer manufacturing is the most critical and complex process in semiconductor manufacturing, accounting for about 80%. It is predicted that the global semiconductor equipment market size is expected to reach 95.3 billion US dollars this year, of which 81.7 billion US dollars will come from manufacturing equipment.
The wafer manufacturing process includes hundreds of process steps, involving dozens of semiconductor devices, and involves a series of steps such as heat treatment, thin film deposition, photoresist coating, exposure, baking, development, and etching. Among them, the lithography machine, etching machine, and thin film deposition equipment have the greatest technical difficulty and the highest value proportion, making them the three major swordsmen, occupying more than 70% of the market.
Thin film deposition equipment can be said to move the whole body with one pull. Currently, China's semiconductor equipment still heavily relies on overseas enterprises and is subject to certain limitations in core technologies and components. As an important market for semiconductor equipment, China has ushered in a new golden period of rapid growth and breakthroughs for thin film deposition equipment manufacturers, with the proliferation of semiconductor projects in various regions, the expansion of production capacity in wafer foundries, and the promotion of independent and controllable processes.
CVD and PVD multi line combination
As an important step in the manufacturing process, thin film deposition refers to depositing a layer of film on the main substrate material "silicon" of semiconductors. This layer of film can be made of various materials, such as insulating compounds silicon dioxide, polycrystalline silicon, copper metal, etc. The equipment used for coating is called thin film deposition equipment.
According to different working principles, thin film deposition processes can be divided into two categories: physical vapor deposition (PVD) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD). With the improvement of the manufacturing process, more layers need to be deposited, and the market space for thin film deposition equipment is constantly expanding.
These two types of devices have their own applications and complement each other.
PVD is a physical method used under vacuum conditions to vaporize solid materials through heating or sputtering processes, and then condense vapor on the substrate surface to form a solid thin film. It is commonly used for metal deposition. After continuous evolution, PVD technology has become mainstream due to the fact that the thin films prepared by sputtering equipment are more uniform, dense, have strong substrate adhesion, and higher purity.
CVD refers to the process of depositing thin films on the surface of silicon wafers through a chemical reaction of gas mixture, which can be applied to the deposition of insulating films, polycrystalline silicon, and metal films. According to different reaction conditions, it can be further divided into atmospheric pressure CVD (APCVD), low-pressure CVD (LPCVD), plasma enhanced CVD (PECVD), high-density plasma CVD (HDPCVD), and atomic layer deposition (ALD). APCVD is mainly used for the deposition of silicon dioxide and silicon nitride, while LPCVD is mainly used for the deposition of polycrystalline silicon, silicon dioxide, and silicon nitride. PECVD increases the chemical reaction rate by generating free radicals through plasma, and can achieve high deposition rates at relatively low temperatures. It is widely used in the deposition of silicon oxide, silicon nitride, low-k, ESL, and other dielectric thin films.
From the perspective of market demand, due to the various CVD technology routes in thin film deposition processes, which have good pore filling and film thickness control capabilities, the application of CVD in metal deposition is increasing. According to Gartner statistics, CVD has always been the most widely used deposition equipment, with a market space of nearly 9 billion US dollars, accounting for 64% of the overall market share of deposition equipment. Among them, plasma CVD and atomic layer deposition ALD have become the most mainstream CVD technologies, accounting for 34% and 13% of the market share, respectively. The application of PVD is second only to CVD. In 2020, the market space for sputtering PVD equipment reached nearly 3 billion US dollars, accounting for 21%, and its application is second only to plasma CVD.
It should be noted that on one hand, PECVD is becoming the mainstream technology for chemical vapor deposition. The introduction of plasma can effectively reduce the thermal budget of the deposition process, while improving the deposition rate and filling ability of high aspect ratio pores. Chemical deposition processes using plasma include PECVD, HDPCVD, etc. On the other hand, ALD has significant advantages in film uniformity, step coverage, and thickness control, and plays an important role in processes such as copper seed layer and high-K gate dielectric deposition. It is a new generation of nanoscale CVD technology.
At the same time, it should be noted that when domestic equipment manufacturers occupy sufficient market share, they will inevitably face patent disputes. Patents are a competitive principle followed by international semiconductor equipment companies. Domestic semiconductor equipment manufacturers must cultivate patent awareness, control the characteristics, innovation, effectiveness, compliance and stability of patents, and form a technological deterrent in order to contribute to longer-term development.
In addition, foreign semiconductor equipment giants have been deeply involved in the industry for many years and have built a solid moat. Domestic semiconductor manufacturing equipment enterprises are currently in the breakthrough stage from 0 to 1, and some links are in the upgrade stage from 1 to N, which has a significant gap with foreign giants. Therefore, it is necessary for domestic film equipment manufacturers in the tough stage to expand their product and market coverage through external growth channels such as mergers and acquisitions at the appropriate time.