has found a way to block the technological development of ASML

China seems to be very clear what should you do to emerge victorious from the dispute it is having with the US in the crucial semiconductor scenario. Without 100% Chinese advanced chips its military capacity, the development of its models of artificial intelligence (AI) and the competitiveness of its technology companies will suffer in the medium term. At this juncture you need to develop your own teams of extreme ultraviolet photolithography (UVE), which are the appropriate machines to manufacture cutting-edge integrated circuits, as soon as possible. But getting them ready is not easy at all.

Engineers from some Chinese companies, such as Huawei, SMIC or SMEE, and researchers from various scientific institutions, such as Tsinghua University or the Chinese Academy of Sciences, are combining reverse engineering techniques applied to computer equipment. deep ultraviolet photolithography (UVP) of ASML that has in its possession and innovations devised by themselves. It is the logical path. However, that are using reverse engineering It does not imply that we should conclude that they only know how to “copy.” China’s innovation capacity is, objectively, beyond doubt.

China is filing critical patents to protect itself and weaken ASML

So far this March, Huawei, SMEE and Tsinghua University, among other Chinese entities, have registered an unusually high volume of patents linked to the development of photolithography equipment. What China intends is, above all, to protect its intellectual property. But the nature of some of his latest patents reflects that he also pursues block ASML and some of its essential suppliers, such as ZEISS or TRUMPF. And it is doing so by registering patents directly linked to the next generation of photolithography equipment, so it is taking ownership of the path that ASML will have to travel in the future.

Several of these critical patents have been registered by Tsinghua University and describe fundamental innovations about technology SSMB-UVE (Steady-State Micro-Bunching-UVE), which we can translate as Microclustering in steady state for the generation of UVE radiation. This technology seeks to generate this radiation that is so important for produce advanced chips using a synchrotronwhich is nothing more than a circular particle accelerator that is used to analyze the properties of matter at the atomic level.

One of the patents registered by this Chinese research center describes how electrons can be organized in a particle accelerator to ensure that they emit coherent light with a wavelength of 13.5 nm. If over the next decade the semiconductor industry decides that laser vaporization of tin droplets, which is the technique ASML is usinghas reached its thermal limit and accelerators represent the only way to reach the 1,000 watts of power necessary to implement Hyper-NA technologyChina will have the upper hand.

However, this is not just about particle accelerators. Huawei and SiCarrier have registered several patents dedicated to UVE radiation interference lithography already LDP type ultraviolet light sources (laser induced discharge). One of these critical patents describes an innovation that uses interferometry to generate nanometer-resolution patterns. without depending on the very complex ZEISS lenses. If at some point technological development takes ASML, ZEISS or any other Western company down this path they will have to pay the Chinese entities, negotiate an exchange of intellectual properties or develop your own alternative innovations. And doing so is not easy.

Image | Generated by Xataka with Gemini

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