R&A News Week 24

1.Global Wafer Fab Equipment Revenue to Grow 18% in 2022.

Global Wafer Fab Equipment (WFE) manufacturers’ revenue will grow 18% in 2022 to exceed $129 billion, according to Counterpoint Research’s Wafer Fab Equipment Revenue Tracker.

Critical technology transformations, increasing device and manufacturing complexity, aggressive investments in higher semiconductor performance and active investments in production capacity expansion will drive WFE spending in 2022.

The chip shortage will continue to be a concern for the WFE supply chain in 2022.

2.LG Display invests US$1.4 billion more into its factory in Vietnam.

The investment will boost the company’s OLED display output at the Haiphong factory to 13 million to 14 million units per month, from the current 9.6 million to 10.1 million monthly units, the committee said in a statement, Reuters reported.

The additional $1.4 billion will raise the LG Display investment to $4.65 billion. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

3.Lam Research Teams Up with SK hynix to Enhance DRAM Production Cost Efficiency with Breakthrough Dry Resist EUV Technology.

Lam Research has announced that SK hynix has selected Lam's innovative dry resist fabrication technology as a development tool of record for two key process steps in the production of advanced DRAM chips. A breakthrough technology introduced by Lam in 2020, dry resist extends the resolution, productivity, and yield of Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, a pivotal technology used in the production of next-generation semiconductors.

Through Lam's work with SK hynix and ongoing collaboration with ecosystem partners on dry resist technology, the company continues to take a leadership role in driving patterning innovations to remove the roadblocks associated with scaling to future memory nodes with EUV lithography.

“Lam's dry resist technology is a game-changer. By innovating at the material level, it addresses EUV lithography's biggest challenges, enabling cost-effective scaling for advanced memory and logic,” said Richard Wise, vice president and general manager of the dry resist product group at Lam. “We are proud to continue our long-standing collaboration with SK hynix to accelerate DRAM technology innovations.”

SK hynix intends to use Lam's dry resist underlayer and dry development processes for advanced DRAM patterning.

“As DRAM continues to scale, innovations in EUV patterning are critical for delivering the performance needed for today's increasingly connected devices at a cost that is right for our customers,” said BK Lee, head of R&D process at SK hynix.

“The dry resist technology that we are working on with Lam enables exceptionally precise, low defect, and lower cost patterning.”

As chipmakers move to advanced technology nodes, they must resolve ever smaller and finer chip designs on the wafer.

First developed by Lam in collaboration with ASML and IMEC, dry resist technology offers several advantages over conventional chemically amplified resist patterning for EUV lithography.

?Dry resist technology solutions significantly enhance EUV sensitivity and the resolution of each wafer pass, enabling patterns to better adhere to the wafer and improving performance and yield.

In addition, Lam's dry resist development approach offers key sustainability benefits by consuming less energy and five to ten times less raw materials than traditional chemical wet resist processes.

4.Li Zairong's visit to ASMA has achieved remarkable results. Foreign media say that Samsung has guaranteed to obtain additional ultra violet lithography machines

According to the latest reports of foreign media, Li Zairong's visit to ASMA has achieved success.

They have ensured that they can obtain additional extreme ultraviolet lithography machines from ASMA.

Obtaining additional EUV lithography machines is very important for Samsung Electronics' wafer foundry business and memory chip manufacturing. It is an important link for them to catch up with and surpass TSMC in wafer foundry and obtain more OEM orders.

The cooperation between Samsung Electronics and ASMA has begun since the beginning of this century. After Samsung Electronics invested in shares, the cooperation between the two companies has been further strengthened. As Samsung Electronics began to use extreme ultraviolet lithography machine from 7Nm process, ASMA has become increasingly important to them.

When Li Zairong visited ASMA headquarters in felderhofen, the Netherlands on Tuesday, Qing Guixian, President and co CEO of Samsung Electronics, also went with him.

He was the head of the equipment solutions Department of Samsung Electronics, including semiconductor and panel businesses.

ASMA was received by CEO Peter wennick, CTO Martin Van den brink and other senior executives.

?During the meeting on Tuesday local time, the executives of Samsung Electronics and ASMA discussed the potential and future semiconductor technology and the supply of extreme ultraviolet lithography machines, and also discussed how to promote the cooperation between the two companies.

5.TSMC says it will have advanced ASML chipmaking tool in 2024

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co?2330.TW?executives said on Thursday the world's biggest chipmaker will have the next version of ASML Holding NV's?ASML.AS?most advanced chipmaking tool in 2024.

The tool called "high-NA EUV" produces beams of focused light that create the microscopic circuitry on computer chips used in phones, laptops, cars and artificial intelligence devices such as smart speakers. EUV stands for extreme ultraviolet, the wavelength of light used by ASML's most advanced machines.

"TSMC will bring in high-NA EUV scanners in 2024 to develop the associated infrastructure and patterning solution needed for customers to fuel innovation," said Y.J. Mii, senior vice president of research & development, during TSMC's technology symposium in Silicon Valley.

Mii did not say when the device, the second generation of extreme ultraviolet lithography tools for making smaller and faster chips, would be used for mass production. TSMC rival Intel Corp INTC.O has said it will use the machines in production by 2025 and that it would be the first to receive the machine.