ASML will discontinue the research and development of EUV Pellicle technology and transfer the technology to Japan.
SNS Tech, a Korean manufacturer of Blank masks, is also developing this technology. It is expected that there will be a competition between Japan and South Korea for dominance in the future.
On June 3, according to industry information, Mitsui Chemical signed an EUV Pellicle technology transfer agreement with ASML, a Dutch exposure machine manufacturer.
Mitsui Chemical plans to complete the EUV Pellicle plant in Japan by the second quarter of next year, and start to build the movable property line from the second quarter of 2021.
This technology transfer is not 100% transfer, but transfer the EUV Pellicle technology developed for several years in sequence, and start to collect patent fees after Mitsui Chemical's mass production.
The semiconductor exposure process is the process of exposing the mask for pattern drawing and repeatedly drawing on the wafer. The pattern shrunk and drawn on the mask is copied to the wafer, and the defective rate will rise sharply when the mask is polluted in the process.
Pellicle is a protective film on the mask, which can prevent the mask from being polluted, reduce bad patterns and improve the service time of the mask.
With the development of new semiconductor micro EUV process, Pellicle also needs to be improved. The original exposure technology basically adopts the light source penetration mode, but the light source in the EUV process is easy to be absorbed, so the reflective type is used. Pellicle also needs the corresponding new technology. However, up to now, there is no EUV Pellicle in the market that can meet the mass production conditions.
Some AP chips of Samsung Electronics adopt the EUV process, but there is only a mask and no Pellicle. The cost of the EUV mask is as high as 500 million won (about 2.9 million yuan), so the burden of replacing the mask is very large.
Industry insiders said that although the production speed of masks without Pellicle has improved, the incidence of defective products will increase. Pellicle does affect the process speed, but it can greatly reduce the defective ratio. Therefore, although the EUV Pellicle technology is difficult, it is essential.
ASML, the leading enterprise of EUV exposure machine, joined hands with Teledyne of Canada to spend years developing EUV Pellicle.
However, the industry speculates that it is difficult to develop EUV technology that meets the penetration rate of more than 90%. In addition, ASML is more inclined to focus on EUV equipment development, so it decided to transfer the technology to Mitsui Chemical.
South Korean enterprise SNS Tech also cooperated with Hanyang University to develop EUV Pellicle technology. The target is to use new materials such as monocrystalline silicon and silicon nitride to produce EUV Pellicle that can meet the penetration rate of more than 88%. Mitsui Chemical aims to achieve mass production as soon as possible by using polysilicon materials to seize market opportunities.
Experts believe that the yield of both enterprises is about 30%, and the technology is not yet mature. Professor Ann Jinho of Hanyang University said that even considering the subsequent price reduction trend, the price of EUV Pellicle is about 100 million won (about 580000 yuan). Assuming that the market size of 50 billion won (about 290 million yuan) is changed once a week