Rebirth Technology Power

Chapter 81 Assembling the Lithography Machine

In a blink of an eye, a few days passed.

Cai Jin is considering whether to get a treadmill to strengthen his physical exercise.

After a few days, it seemed to be as fierce as a tiger, but in fact it was very false.

Walking is a bit wobbly now.

"Master, please contact me, the ordered equipment has arrived."

At this moment, Benben gave a reminder.

Cai Jin came to his senses at this time. Before that, he asked Huawei to help him purchase a batch of machinery, equipment and materials.

I didn't expect the goods to be delivered so soon.

Cai Jin set off with 'Benben' to the bottom, and saw a big transport truck at the gate.

Cai Jin sent the transport truck to the small factory next door, and then unloaded the goods.

Lasers, Beam Straighteners, Energy Controllers, Beam Shapers, Gobos, Energy Detectors, Masks
These equipment and instruments are all domestic equipment, which are quite common in the international market.

Top-notch equipment is more difficult to obtain, but this kind of ordinary equipment is easier.

What China lacks are mid-to-high-end and top-notch lithography machines, but there is no shortage of low-end lithography machines!
Just like, what China lacks are high-end and top-notch chips, but it does not lack ordinary chips.

What Cai Jin wants to do is the photoresist that is indispensable in the photolithography machine and semiconductor manufacturing process.

Lithography machine, as the jewel in the crown of the semiconductor manufacturing industry, the significance of lithography machine is self-evident.

Chip production requires 20 to 30 photolithography operations, which takes up about 50% of the IC production process and one-third of the chip production cost.

Generally speaking, as long as the problem of the lithography machine is solved, the chip manufacturing project is half completed.

It is a pity that high-end lithography machines are mainly in the hands of a few overseas giants such as ASML, Nikon, Canon, and Autotech, while the world's most advanced lithography machines are in the hands of ASML.

Speaking of lithography machines, it is definitely a pain in China's semiconductor industry.

The cost of a high-end lithography machine, such as the FX85 exposure machine, will not exceed 2000 million, but Nikon dares to sell it to domestic customers at a crazy price of [-] million each.

Still acting like you have to beg me!
As for the 7nm lithography machine, it sold for 12 billion yuan after tax.

Not only is it expensive, but you can't buy it.

So far, only SMIC in the whole of China has managed to obtain a top ASML lithography machine.

Reality is always helpless!
In the land of China, 960 million square kilometers, there is only one tokki top-level evaporation machine, and only one ASML top-level lithography machine!
Every year, China has a large trade surplus and earns a large amount of foreign exchange. There is no shortage of US dollars and euros.

But in the final analysis, the US dollar and the euro are just paper, and people use paper to exchange you for a large number of industrial products.

If you want to buy these high-tech products with dollars and euros, they don't even want to sell them to you!
Even if you buy it through various means, the final price you pay is much higher than overseas.

There are still many people in China who naively believe that overseas is democracy, freedom, and a market economy. If you work hard to earn dollars and euros, you can use dollars and euros to buy high-end equipment to improve your own strength. The result is that this cannot be bought. , That can’t be bought.

Technology is the real king.

Money cannot buy high technology, but high technology can continuously create wealth.

Cai Jin started to assemble the lithography machine.

The lithography machine assembled in this way is just a low-end lithography machine.

But for Cai Jin, enough is enough!
According to the manual and video, it took five hours to finally assemble a lithography machine.

Put your hands on this lithography machine, and the virtual panel appears:
[Item: Incomplete low-end lithography machine (repairable)]

[Experience value: 0/100000]

【Optimization point: 250.8】

Cai Jin was stunned. He didn't expect that the lithography machine he assembled according to the video and instructions was defective, that is, there were problems.

But that's okay, it's easy to fix!

"System, fix it!"

Swish!
A gleam of light flickered.

The repair was completed in an instant, and the virtual panel became:

[Item: Incomplete low-end lithography machine]

[Experience value: 0/100000]

【Optimization point: 250.8】

Cai Jin moved the corresponding semiconductor materials to conduct experiments.

Semiconductor chip production is mainly divided into three links: IC design, IC manufacturing, and IC packaging and testing.

The so-called IC is the English abbreviation for integrated circuit.

IC design is a high-end technology, and it is also one of the most important factors for companies such as Inter to stand at the pinnacle of the semiconductor industry.

Mainly according to the design purpose of the chip, logic design and rule formulation are carried out, and a mask is made according to the design drawing for use in subsequent photolithography steps.

IC manufacturing is the manufacture of semiconductor chips.

Generally, it is necessary to realize the transfer of the chip circuit diagram from the mask to the silicon wafer, and realize the predetermined chip function.

Including photolithography, etching, ion implantation, thin film deposition, chemical mechanical polishing and other steps.

As for IC packaging and testing, it is to complete the packaging and performance and functional testing of chips, which is the final process before product delivery.

For IC design, Cai Jin doesn't have to worry, he has mastered the process technology of various specifications.

IC manufacturing and lithography are the most complex and critical process steps in the semiconductor chip production process, which are time-consuming and costly.

The difficulty and key point is to transfer the circuit diagram from the mask to the silicon wafer.

This process can only be realized most effectively by photolithography at present.

Therefore, the process level of lithography often directly determines the process level and performance level of the chip.

The principle of lithography is actually very simple.

A layer of highly photosensitive photoresist is covered on the surface of the silicon wafer, and then the light is irradiated on the surface of the silicon wafer through the mask.

Photoresist reacts when exposed to light.

After that, the irradiated or unirradiated photoresist is washed away with a specific solvent, and the transfer of the circuit pattern from the mask to the silicon wafer is realized.

There are actually some similarities between this and ancient Chinese printing, but photolithography is thousands of times more difficult than printing.

The general photolithography steps include vapor phase base film formation, spin coating, soft baking, exposure, development, and film hardening.

Next, inspections are carried out, mainly development inspections, so that compliant silicon wafers enter the subsequent etching process.

The so-called etching is the process of selectively removing unnecessary materials from the surface of silicon wafers by chemical or physical methods.

After completion, the remaining photoresist on the surface of the silicon wafer can be washed away by a specific solvent.

Of course, this is the simplest photolithography step, but in actual production, it is hundreds of times more complicated than this.

It took Cai Jin more than three hours from the beginning of photolithography to the last step of washing off the remaining photoresist.

Of course, there is also the factor that he has just come into contact with the lithography machine and the operation is not smooth.

Looking at the 300nm chips produced, Cai Jin smiled.

Although it is a low-end chip, it is a good start.

His goal is not these 300nm chips, to be precise, not for chips.

But a lithography machine.

It is his purpose to upgrade the lithography machine through continuous use of the lithography machine.

If the manufacturing machine is solved, then using the machine to produce is not a problem at all.

(End of this chapter)