Countercurrent 1982

Chapter 1278 ASM
Around 1980, the Institute of Semiconductors of the Chinese Academy of Sciences began to develop the JK-1 semi-automatic proximity lithography machine, and successfully developed two prototypes in 1981.

Since the United States already had a contact lithography machine in the 50s, China was nearly 20 years behind in comparison. At the same time, foreign countries began to switch to step-by-step projection lithography in 1978. At this time, the Chinese scientific community also realized , the superiority of distributed projection lithography technology, but it is difficult to realize due to poor domestic industrial technology.

Shortly after the world's first DSW lithography machine came out in 1978, the 1th Institute of the Ministry of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering began to track and study the step-by-step lithography machine, and compared the 45DSW in the United States. In 4800, the BG-1985 branch lithography machine was developed. The machine prototype, and passed the technical appraisal of the Ministry of Electronics, was considered to have reached the level of similar products in the United States, and the 101-nm G-line light source was used at that time.

This also means that in 1985, the gap between China and foreign countries in the high-tech field narrowed to about 7 years, that is, it reached the level of the United States in 1978.

It can be seen that the domestic lithography machine.Research and development began in the late 70s until the 80s, and later technologies have been advancing, and certain representative results have been achieved.

However, in the mid-to-late 80s, due to technological blockade and the prevalence of comprador thinking in China, lithography machines fell behind.

At that time, the Batumi agreement did not approve the sale of advanced equipment to China. When foreign process lines had already used 0.5-micron equipment, they only exported 1.5-micron equipment to my country, which was three generations behind. The engraving machine lens na must be less than 8, which can only have a resolution of more than two microns.

Therefore, the current 0.9-micron chip production line that Duan Yun imported from Japan’s Toshiba just meets the requirements of the Batumi Agreement, while Japan’s most advanced [-]-micron chip production line is strictly prohibited from being exported to China by the Batumi Agreement.

If Duan Yun wants to make a chip with a one-micron process, it is currently impossible to directly buy ready-made equipment from abroad, and can only rely on domestic research and development.

Because of the prevalence of comprador thinking, although China's lithography machines were leading in technology at that time, they also encountered many problems, because research and development required a lot of capital investment, but after these funds were invested, there were some technical problems. It can't be solved well, so after seeing a lot of advanced equipment abroad, the country gave up, and the research and development of equipment turned into purchase.

This eventually led to a complete stagnation in the research and development of lithography machines in China. Many companies engaged in lithography machine research and development became precarious because of lack of financial support, and finally the companies also went bankrupt.

If Duan Yun wants to produce the world's leading NAND flash memory chip and maintain a long-term dominant position in the field of flash memory chips, he must have a more advanced lithography machine.

Under Moore's Law, the number of transistors that can be accommodated on an integrated circuit will double every 18 months, which requires the lithography machine that produces the chip to keep iterating.

Duan Yun can choose to invest in the development of domestic lithography machines, but the investment is relatively large, and the cycle is relatively long, which is a bit far away and cannot quench the near thirst.

After some thinking, Duan Yun decided to make two preparations. One is to cooperate with domestic scientific research institutes and related institutions to jointly develop working machines.

On the other hand, it is necessary to find ways to directly purchase an advanced one-micron lithography machine from abroad to solve the problem of upgrading the current chip production line.

But which one to buy a lithography machine from has become a problem.

When people in later generations mention lithography machines, they easily think of ASML in the Netherlands. In 1988, ASML was not well-known in the field of lithography machines, and the company was almost on the verge of bankruptcy. , Not even the money to pay wages.

In the early years, ASML was born in Philips Physics Laboratory and Philips Science and Industry Department, a group of talented scientists in the city called toys.

In the 20s, the Dutch economy was in recession, and Philips, which was in a business crisis, lost its constant interest and wanted to spin off ASML Laboratories, which had invested hundreds of millions of dollars.

At the beginning, the project leader approached three companies to discuss the cooperation of lithography machines, but all ended in failure.

Until 1984, S&I and ASM established a joint venture company ASML, with each party holding 50% of the shares.

But at the beginning of the company's establishment, the joint venture company had only a dozen lithography machines in stock, and only $30 in its account.

At this time, there are more than 10 players in the global lithography machine market, including American companies with a large market share, and rookies who are eyeing up. Japan’s Nikon and Canon, ASML are completely at the bottom in this field, and their market shares are negligible. .

So from the beginning, no one was optimistic about ASML.

In the 80s, Nikon in Japan rose rapidly. Compared with GCA, the leading lithography machine in the United States, Nikon’s lithography machine performance was more stable. In 1982, GCA in the United States still occupied 95% of the Japanese market. However, in 1983 In 45, it has been reduced to [-]%, and most of the market is obtained by Nikon in Japan.

Including the lithography machine that Duan Yun is now importing from Toshiba, it is also produced by Nikon.

In the three years from 1984 to 1987, the entire lithography machine industry was undergoing a reshuffle. In 1986, three of the 10 lithography machine companies withdrew from the market, and the remaining 7 suppliers were also eliminated in the next few years. , the former leader of lithography machines, GCA of the United States, is on the verge of bankruptcy, and it has reached the point where it has to use its Zeiss shares to pay for Zeiss lens fees.

At this time, ASML was also struggling. In 1986, the American semiconductor company AMD, which had booked half of ASML's order, tore up the contract at the last minute, causing ASML to record a loss of more than 1400 million US dollars.

In the following year, the lithography machine industry was dumped at low prices and overcapacity, and ASML had to cut prices to promote products, and profits were affected again.

In 1986 and 1987, the losses were US$2500 million and US$2300 million respectively.

Now in 1988, ASML has used up all the credit line of the last 2500 million US dollars. The company has no money to pay wages, and the chief financial officer has to go to Philips to beg for some money to pay wages to workers.

In fact, at this time, Asmail is only a thread away from death.

With ASML's technology, it is completely possible to produce a lithography machine with a one-micron process of good quality, and Duan Yun still holds 1500 million US dollars in foreign exchange, but due to the Batumi agreement, Duan Yun cannot start from Foreign countries directly purchase advanced lithography machines, and it is impossible for ASML to sell such advanced lithography machine products to China.

But now ASML is facing difficulties and the company is on the verge of bankruptcy. Duan Yun thinks this is a good opportunity, maybe ASML will take risks for this business.

This is like a person who is about to drown, seeing someone handing a thorny thorn, knowing that it may hurt, but still taking the risk to grab it...

(End of this chapter)