Ion Implantation Machines For Semiconductor Equipment
The development of domestic ion injection machine is in the initial stage, and the localization of ion injection machine depends on Wanye Enterprise (Kaisitong) and Zhongkexin.
Last month, the results of the bidding for a number of equipment by Shanghai Semiconductor company JTL were announced.
Naura, Tuojing Technology, Core Source Micro, ASML and other companies have successfully won the bid for 33 sets of equipment in Shanghai Jta characteristic process production line project, among which NAura, Tuojing Technology and Core Source Micro, the proportion of scalars is about 67%, and the proportion of domestic equipment is relatively large.
After many years of domestic substitution, semiconductor equipment has finally entered the market for mass production.
While the Daily Report has previously written about the main equipment, today's focus is on a relatively niche device -- the ion injector.
What is doping?
The electrical performance of semiconductor devices depends on the concentration of semiconductor doping impurities. In the process of semiconductor wafer manufacturing, a small amount of impurities need to be added to change the structure and conductivity of pure silicon with poor conductivity into a useful semiconductor. This process is called doping.
At present, there are two kinds of doping processes: high temperature thermal diffusion and ion implantation. The high temperature thermal diffusion method is a method to introduce the doped gas into the high temperature furnace with silicon wafers, so as to diffuse the impurities into the silicon wafers. The law of ion implantation is that through the acceleration and guidance of the ion implantation machine, the doped ions are incident into the material in the form of an ion beam. The ion beam has a series of physical and chemical reactions with the atoms or molecules in the material, and the incident ions gradually lose energy. And cause the material surface composition, structure and performance changes, and finally stay in the material, to achieve the optimization of the material surface performance or change.
Due to the shortcomings of high temperature thermal diffusion method such as difficult to control accuracy and high thermal defects, this doping method has been rarely used in the current process. On the contrary, ion implantation has the advantages of precise control of energy and dose, good doping uniformity, high purity, low temperature doping, and not affected by injection materials.
With the continuous reduction of chip characteristic size and integration increase, all kinds of devices are also shrinking, because the transistor performance is more and more affected by doping profile, ion implantation as the only means to accurately control doping, and can repeatedly control the concentration and depth of doping, This has enabled almost all doping processes in modern wafer fabrication to switch from thermal diffusion to ion implantation.
In 2015, the global market size of integrated circuit ion injectors was about $1 billion, and in 2020, the market size will reach $1.8 billion. According to the range of ion beam current and beam energy, ion implantation machines can be divided into three categories: large beam ion implantation machines, low and medium beam ion implantation machines, and high energy ion implantation machines. In the world, large-beam ion injectors are still the main ion injectors. According to Gartner data, large-beam ion injectors account for 61% of the total ion injectors market share, while low-medium beam ion injectors and high-energy ion injectors account for 20% and 18% respectively.
From the perspective of value volume ratio, ion implantation machine accounts for about 3% of the market size of wafer manufacturing process equipment, which is similar to the market size of CMP equipment, heat treatment, coating developer, etc., but lower than the market size of lithography machine, etching machine, CVD, PVD, measuring and cleaning equipment. The value of integrated circuit ion implantation machines in the wafer manufacturing process equipment market was 2.5%-3.3%, and the proportion decreased from 2010 to 2018, mainly because the value proportion of 3D three-dimensional memory chips and advanced process film equipment and etching equipment increased, while the value proportion of other process equipment was squeezed out.
In the future, this market is still an incremental market. In 2030, the total scale of the global semiconductor industry is expected to reach 1 trillion US dollars, and the semiconductor equipment market scale will basically reach about 140 billion US dollars. If the proportion of ion injection machine is calculated by 3%, the market scale will be 4.2 billion US dollars.
Pattern of monopoly
In terms of the competition pattern, the market share of ion injectors is highly concentrated, with AMAT and Axcelis taking up most of the global market share, among which the US company holds more than 50% market share. The market share of AMAT in ion implantation machine products is 70%. The main products include high beam ion implantation machine, medium beam ion implantation machine, ultra high dose ion implantation. Axcelis, also known as Asheli Technology Design Company, has a market share of 55% for its main products, high-energy ion implantation machines.
The domestic ion injectors are basically monopolized by Applied Materials, Axcelis and Sumitomo of Japan, and only Kaesitong and Zhongkexin of Wanyu Enterprise have obtained process verification and acceptance in some 12-inch wafer production lines.
Wanye Enterprise is a platform enterprise transformed from a traditional real estate enterprise into integrated circuit equipment and materials by PUke Investment and holding company. In 2018, the company invested 398 million yuan to acquire 100% equity of Shanghai Kaisitong, and invested 600 million yuan to acquire 33.31% equity of Compart Systems in 2020. Kaescom's main business is ion injectors for photovoltaics and integrated circuits, while Compart Systems' main business is key components for gas flow systems in integrated circuit equipment.
Kaestong's ion implantation machine technology industry leader, its photovoltaic solar ion implantation machine market share used to be the world's first. In recent years, Kaisetong has focused on the development of 14 nm FinFET integrated circuit ion implantation machines, and has continued to develop and invest low-energy high-beam ion implantation machines and high-energy ion implantation machines. The integrated circuit ion injection machine series products of Kaestong are expected to provide solutions for chip customers in different application fields such as advanced process logic, storage, 5G RF, camera CIS, power semiconductor, etc., and improve their wafer manufacturing capabilities and chip performance.
Zhongkexin Electronic Equipment Co., LTD., founded in 2019, was originally the 48th Institute of China Electronics Division. It is an early high-end equipment supplier focusing on ion injection machine business in the field of integrated circuits in China. The company focuses on the research and development and manufacturing of ion implantation machines for integrated circuits, and is always committed to solving the independent and controllable problems of key technologies of ion implantation machines. It has formed a full series of ion implantation machine product systems, including mid-beam, large-beam, high-energy, special applications and third-generation semiconductors. It has a post-doctoral research station and established an ion implantation machine industrialization platform that meets the requirements of SEMI standards. With an annual output of 30 sets, the products are widely used in the world's famous chip manufacturing enterprises and highly recognized by customers.
According to SEMI, the global semiconductor equipment market has grown from $31.8 billion in 2013 to $71.2 billion in 2020, with a compound annual growth rate of 12.21% and a year-on-year growth rate of 19.15% in 2020. Semiconductor equipment sales in China increased from $3.4 billion in 2013 to $187 in 2020, with a compound annual growth rate of 27.70%, far outpacing the growth of the global market. In 2020, the Chinese market achieved a year-on-year growth of 39.18%.
In terms of size, 2020 is also the first year that China has overtaken Taiwan and South Korea to become the largest semiconductor equipment market in the world.
According to the "Made in China 2025" plan, 40% of the core basic components and key basic materials of semiconductors should be independently guaranteed by 2020, and 70% by 2025.
Although the current domestic technical level is still relatively backward, but the huge cake is bound to become the driving force for local enterprises to break out, investors can always pay attention to the relevant companies' every move.
