Huawei EUV Scanner Patent Suggests Sub-7nm Chips for China - By Anton Shilov published December 23, 2022
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/huawe-euv-scanner
SMIC Mass Produces 14nm Nodes, Advances To 5nm, 7nm - By Anton Shilov last updated September 16, 2022
Chinese state media on Thursday said that Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co. had initiated mass production of chips on its 14nm-class fabrication process at its Fab SN1 near Shanghai, China, citing a local official. Perhaps more importantly, the report also claimed that despite being unable to procure advanced chip production equipment, the company is proceeding with its 7nm and 5nm-class nodes. "With the completion of Shanghai's industry cluster for the 14nm chips, more advanced projects in the 7nm and 5nm processes will be accelerated," said Chen Jia, a research fellow on strategy, in a conversation with state-owned Global Times
14nm Is Here, So Is N+1 SMIC has been talking about its N+1 fabrication technology - loosely considered the company's 7nm-class node — since early 2020 and described it as a low-cost alternative to TSMC's N7 node that relies on deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography tools. N+1 aims to reduce power consumption by 57%, increase performance by 20%, and reduce the logic area by up to 55% – 63% (for select structures) compared to a similar chip implemented using SMIC's 14nm.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/smic- ... to-5nm-7nm
According to a report from Taiwanese media outlet UDN, Huawei has filed a patent on extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment in China. Currently, actual working EUV technology is ASML's realm to rule, though its predecessor technology, which involves deep ultraviolet (DUV), has some competition.
EUV is incredibly important: It enables the manufacture of chips with transistors (the tiny switches in a chip that handle the computing process in a computer) just a few nanometers in size. Chips designed at this microscopic level are what power our smartphones and high-performance computing like AI in data centers. Decades of research and a handful of key acquisitions have put ASML many years in the lead when it comes to EUV technology know-how.
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However, filing a patent -- especially a patent solely for use in China -- is not the same thing as actually building a working piece of equipment. It took ASML many years to complete a working EUV prototype, and many more years after that to actually commercialize its most advanced machines. If the patent is granted, Huawei merely possesses a legal document. It will still need to build its EUV machine. Which, mind you, requires many thousands of critical and specialized parts, some of which are made in the U.S., where there are restrictions on exports of advanced chipmaking technology to China........
Other recent news of China's chip-making progress include a report that China achieved 7nm more quickly than expected (and is working on 5nm), and that China will release a domestic chip with performance allegedly comparable to Ryzen 5000 / 11th-Gen Intel in 2023.
Patent filings reveal that Huawei has made advances in a crucial method of chip manufacture, raising the prospect that the company could eventually start making some of the smallest and most powerful microchips by itself. The highly specialised technique has only ever been cracked by Netherlands-based company ASML. A €208bn business, ASML’s chipmaking secrets are jealously guarded by both the company and the West. Dutch foreign trade minister Liesje Schreinemacher told the country’s parliament in November that ASML’s chip technology was a jewel in the country’s crown to be protected. EUV machines each cost between $150m and $300m and are about the size of a London bus. Factories typically need between 9 and 18 machines, driving the cost of new chip plants well into the billions. ASML’s microchip manufacturing machines are used by world-leading chipmakers such as Intel, Samsung and Taiwanese chip giant TSMC. In January 2022, Intel ordered five EUV machines to help fit out a new chipmaking factory.
https://hardforum.com/threads/chinas-hu ... y.2024509/