Beijing-based Naura Technology Group started research on lithography systems last month, as China’s semiconductor tool makers try workarounds to produce advanced chips without the latest equipment from Dutch giant ASML, a breakthrough that could potentially thwart U.S. attempts to contain China’s chip-making capabilities. The efforts, which involve multiple players in China’s semiconductor supply chain, have made preliminary research progress, with a patent application by Huawei Technologies last month revealing a technique known as self-aligned quadruple patterning (SAQP), allowing to etch lines on silicon wafers multiple times to increase transistor density and chip performance. The patent, which combines advanced etching and lithography, “will increase the design freedom of circuit patterns”, according to a filing to the China National Intellectual Property Administration (NIPA), which was first reported by Bloomberg. By using SAQP with deep ultraviolet lithography (DUV) machines from ASML and Japanese suppliers like Nikon, China could make sophisticated 5-nanometer chips without the need for more advanced extreme ultraviolet (EUV) tools only available from ASML.
Chinese companies have been denied access to EUV technology, but have stockpiled DUV machines in recent years amid fears of tighter export controls by Washington and its allies. Chinese President Xi Jinping told visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in Beijing in March that “no force can stop the pace of China’s scientific and technological development and progress”, while Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao told his Dutch counterpart Geoffrey van Leeuwen that the Netherlands should fulfill “contractual obligations” and ensure the normal trade of lithography machines.
Meanwhile, China’s decade-long effort to develop its own lithography machines has hit a wall. The state-owned Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group (SMEE), the country’s sole lithography systems maker, has not come anywhere close to developing machines that match those of ASML. In December 2022, SMEE was added to a U.S. trade blacklist over national security concerns, meaning it is even less likely to achieve a breakthrough.
A number of Chinese chip tool makers have emerged as important players in efforts to cut the country’s reliance on imported machines. Naura Technology Group has conducted preliminary research into lithography systems since March after it established a special program last December. The company has told a small group of engineers to begin research on lithography systems, which is beyond its traditional expertise in etching and film deposition. While it is far from certain that Naura’s new research efforts will pay off, the move shows the determination by the country’s chip industry to break U.S. sanctions aimed at curbing China’s advances in semiconductors and artificial intelligence.
