Japan’s commitment to lead the chips industry is held on these three companies

For Japan, as for South Korea, Taiwan, China or the US, the semiconductor industry has a strategic character not only because of the deep beneficial impact it has on its economy, but also by the impulse that gives its technological capacity. This is the context in which the Japanese government announced in the middle of last November A public plan that will injected into companies that are dedicated to the design and manufacture of chips no less than 325,000 million dollars within ten years. In addition, it prepares additional 65,000 million that seek to support the activity of local companies.

There is no doubt that it is a very strong and more ambitious bet even than those designed by the US, China or Europe. Only South Korea prepare an economic investment of a similar size. The first reactions of Japanese companies have not been waiting. “We are working with our clients to develop technologies that teach four generations in the future.” These words of Nobuto DoiVice President of Tokyo Electron, are a declaration of intentions.

However, before moving forward in this article it is important that we briefly review where Japan comes from. At the end of the 80s this Asian country dominated the global industry of the integrated circuits with an indisputable forcefulness. Nec, Toshiba, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Matsushita and other Japanese companies They monopolized in 1988 Nothing less than 50% of the chips industry. However, today none of these companies is positioned among the leaders of a sector dominated with iron fist by Taiwanese, American, Chinese, South Korean and German companies.

Tokyo Electron: Japanese Asml

This company is one of The pillars of the Japanese industry of integrated circuits. It is dedicated to the design and manufacture of lithography and waking -up equipment, so its machines often live together in the TSMC, Intel, Samsung, Micron Technology or SK Hynix plants, among other companies, with the teams of the Dutch company ASML or the American Apply materials. Its importance for Japan is such that it is currently one of the Japanese companies that are being backed by subsidies approved by the Japanese government.

In fact, it is building several buildings in the prefecture of Miyagi that will presumably be completed in 2025. The most ambitious project that will address in these facilities will consist of the design and manufacture of some some WAFSMA TEACHING BY PLASMA Very advanced. They are precisely the machines that Nobuto Doi speaks in the statement that I have included in the second paragraph of this article. These equipment are involved in the definition of the pattern that will later be transferred to the wafer. The Japanese company Hitachi also has plasma wafering engraving machines, but the singing voice in this particular market has tokyo electron.

Apparently the engineers of this last company are working side by side with their clients to develop solutions that, according to doi, four generations ahead will be positioned. However, its plan goes beyond the facilities of the Prefecture of Miyagi. And it is that Tokyo Electron is also building a new plant in Oshu, in the prefecture of Iwate, which will be intended for the manufacture of advanced wafering deposition equipment and logistics. We can be sure: Tokyo Electron is the Japanese Asml. Without it, the ambitious plan pergeted by the Japanese government for its semiconductor industry would not be viable.

Rapidus Corporation: The spearhead of Japan

The company that is destined to compete from you to you with TSMC, Intel or Samsung in the chip production market is Rapidus corporation. In fact, it has been expressly created to replace Japan at the forefront of integrated circuits. This is a very young company. It was founded on August 10, 2022 by the Japanese government with an initial capital of 7,346 million yen (just under 46 million euros) contributed by, and here comes the interesting, Sony, Toyota, Nec, Softbank, Kioxia, Denso, Nippon Telegraph and Mufg Bank.

The initial capital invested in the constitution of this company is not very bulky, but there is no doubt that the companies that participate in it have an indisputable relevance in the sectors of technology, automotive and telecommunications. Rapidus is currently putting a circuit manufacturing plant integrated in northern Japan, in the city of Chitose (Hokkaido), in which it plans to produce 2 Nm semiconductor. The first prototypes of these chips are already readybut large -scale manufacturing will not arrive at best until 2027.

What is causing the new Rapidus factory to monopolize the looks of the semiconductor sector is that, according to Atsuyoshi Koike, which is the president of the company, it will be completely automated. Its purpose is to resort to robots and artificial intelligence (AI) to tune an automated production line that will be specialized in the manufacture of 2 nm chips for AI applications. Its plan consists, in short, to produce integrated circuits faster, with a lower and more quality cost.

To manufacture these semiconductors, equipment of extreme ultraviolet lithography (UVE) produced by the Dutch company ASML, and practically all manufacturing processes are automatic. However, the tests of test and validation, interconnection and packaging of the chips are still largely carried out manually in most manufacturing plants. According to Rapidus, its automation technology of all these processes will allow you to reduce the delivery time of your chips by 66% compared to the times they usually offer TSMC and Samsung.

JSR Corporation: The photor resistance monopoly is in his hands

There is a Japanese company that is indisputably leader in its specialty. It is little known outside the scope of the semiconductors, and yet it is one of the bastions of Japan. Is called JSR Corporation and specialized in the production of photorers. The photolithography equipment designing and produces ASML is responsible, very broadly speaking, to transfer the geometric pattern described by the mask with a lot of precision to the surface of the Silicon wafer.

In this area we can observe the pattern as the “drawing” that delimits the distribution of transistors, connections and other elements that make up an integrated circuit. However, before reaching this important step it is necessary Submit wafers to a process known as deposition. It usually intervene the equipment manufactured by Tokyo Electron or Applied Materials. Its purpose is to prepare the silicon wafers for the transfer of the geometric pattern depositing on them a fine layer of material. Depending on the type of chip that is being manufactured it will be necessary to use one material or another.

One of the most used deposition techniques is known as oxidation, and consists of taking advantage of the silicon’s ability to form a fine oxide layer when reacting with water. Its purpose is to protect transistors and other components of external pollution chips. However, before carrying out the transfer of the geometric pattern to the wafer using a lithography equipment it is necessary to pour a liquid capable of absorbing the light and preserving the pattern. This is the function of the photorersista fluid.

During the last two decades all companies specialized in the production of photorers have been Japanese. In fact, Japan has since The monopoly of this marketthat It is currently led by JSR Corporation. This company supplies its photorestoning liquids to most of the semiconductor manufacturers that I have mentioned in this article, contributing to sustaining Japan’s leadership in a very important area that usually goes unnoticed: that of the manufacture of advanced materials to produce integrated circuits.

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