China’s EUV Development: Huawei and LDP Technology
Huawei, in collaboration with domestic Chinese industry (including the Harbin Institute of Technology), is actively developing and testing a new EUV lithography machine at its Dongguan facility. This machine utilizes Laser-Induced Discharge Plasma (LDP) technology, a method confirmed to be distinct from ASML’s CO2 laser-produced plasma (LPP) technology.
Technological Advantages of LDP:
– LDP technology is to directly convert electrical energy into plasma radiation, eliminating the need for complex laser excitation seen in LPP.
This approach is claimed to lead to a simpler, smaller design, reduced equipment volume, and lower power consumption (reportedly a 40% reduction compared to ASML’s solution).
The cost of the LDP equipment is stated to be significantly lower (one-third of imported equipment).
While specific, independently verified efficiency figures are not widely consistent, LDP is generally reported to have higher energy conversion efficiency than LPP.
Performance Metrics (as reported, with important nuances):
– Wafer Processing: The machine can process 250 wafers per hour. While this figure is ambitious, ASML’s current high-volume manufacturing systems (like the NXE:3600D) achieve over 200 wafers per hour, and their latest High-NA systems (EXE:5000) aim for over 185 WPH, with a roadmap to reach 220 WPH in 2025. Therefore, if the 250 WPH claim is accurate and scalable in production, it would represent a significant throughput advantage.
Light Source Efficiency and Energy Conversion Efficiency: While the prompt provides specific figures (3.42% core light source efficiency and 45% final energy conversion efficiency for LDP), these exact numbers are not consistently corroborated across independent recent reports. However, the general claim of LDP’s higher efficiency remains.
– Production Timeline:
Trial production of this EUV machine is consistently reported to begin in the third quarter of 2025.
Mass production is targeted for 2026.
– Comparison with ASML’s LPP:
ASML’s EUV light source uses LPP technology, which involves a multi-step process of laser generation, droplet production, and light collection.
LPP is generally acknowledged to face challenges such as conversion efficiency below 10%, potential for contamination, high maintenance costs, and high power consumption.
LDP aims to address these challenges with its simpler and potentially more efficient direct conversion method.
– Impact on the Industry:
If Huawei’s EUV machine can successfully transition from testing to high-volume commercial production with competitive performance, it could significantly impact the semiconductor industry by:
Reducing China’s reliance on foreign (specifically ASML) EUV technology.
Potentially disrupting ASML’s long-standing monopoly in advanced lithography.
However, analysts and ASML leadership emphasize that significant challenges remain in scaling production, ensuring resolution and throughput stability, and developing the complete supporting ecosystem (mirrors, masks, photoresists) required for advanced manufacturing. It is generally believed that China is still several years away from commercially viable EUV production at the leading edge. https://www.facebook.com/jeff.mah.5/posts/pfbid02hnXoRxNUfxobbWMGcgNqWdikqhuiAkTzcWLDS3NpbwSqY8JKQbP8hoUh1WW4GMXkl?__cft__[0]=AZVyqq_IkZr_Nz2oPAhZo4pmRIgWppKcYGoC42hhgQunabmK-8JopLPMpoZY3-1noGpUbsj0RAz6GOt65qb-cFrb_tvCbP_7c6FGAr1t-9shbSwbnqXv1GBPNhtKKMKA8w0oQvvYImB1gto7xpQnSTRy&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R
