Supply chain: New materials will replace manufacturing equipment and become the main driving force for improving chip performance
Supply chain executives have stated that as the 2nm milestone approaches, companies such as TSMC and Intel will push their current production technology to the limit, and new materials and more advanced chemicals will play an increasingly important role in the chip manufacturing industry.
Executives from semiconductor equipment and materials companies Entegris and Merck recently discussed how the global chip competition will evolve as Moore's Law slows down.
James O'Neill, Chief Technology Officer of Entegris, stated that in achieving advanced production processes, it is no longer chip manufacturing equipment that occupies the central position, but advanced materials and cleaning solutions. "I believe the statement that material innovation is the main driving force for improving performance is reliable."
Kai Beckmann, CEO of Merck Electronics, also expressed the same view. Beckman said, "We are moving from the era where equipment was most important for advancing technology in the past two decades (chip manufacturing) to the next decade, what our customers call the material age. Equipment is still important, but now materials determine everything."
For processor chips, the competition for large-scale production of 2nm nodes has begun by 2025, with giants such as TSMC, Samsung, and Intel in a leading position. According to various development roadmaps, more complex chips may also be on the horizon.
At the same time, storage chip giants such as Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron are using 3D NAND flash memory to achieve technological breakthroughs, with the goal of ultimately producing up to 500 layers of chips. These three companies currently produce over 230 layers of storage chips.
The continuous progress in these two fields not only requires advanced equipment, but also new cutting-edge material libraries. For example, the leap in logic chip production to 2nm requires a completely new chip architecture. In this new architecture called Ring Gate (GAA), transistors are stacked in a more complex 3D manner than early planar configurations.
O'Neill stated that developing materials for new transistor configurations, such as ring gates, requires innovative materials to "uniformly cover the top, bottom, and sides," and added that the industry is designing methods to "achieve this at the atomic level.".
Another reason why chemicals are becoming increasingly important is the need to ensure stable quality. O'Neill stated that production yield has become extremely important in determining which manufacturers have commercial competitiveness. High purity chemicals are crucial for ensuring perfect production and minimizing defects.
Beckmann from Merck provides another example of material evolution in the industry: copper is widely used as a conductive layer in current chip manufacturing processes, but the industry is exploring new materials such as molybdenum to manufacture smaller and more advanced chips.
But continuous innovation leads to rising costs. According to International Business Strategies, a chip industry consulting firm, the cost of a single 2nm wafer is as high as $30000, which is 50% higher than the previous generation (i.e. the 3nm processor used in the iPhone 15 Pro).
James O'Neill, Chief Technology Officer of Entegris, stated that in achieving advanced production processes, it is no longer chip manufacturing equipment that occupies the central position, but advanced materials and cleaning solutions. "I believe the statement that material innovation is the main driving force for improving performance is reliable."
Kai Beckmann, CEO of Merck Electronics, also expressed the same view. Beckman said, "We are moving from the era where equipment was most important for advancing technology in the past two decades (chip manufacturing) to the next decade, what our customers call the material age. Equipment is still important, but now materials determine everything."
For processor chips, the competition for large-scale production of 2nm nodes has begun by 2025, with giants such as TSMC, Samsung, and Intel in a leading position. According to various development roadmaps, more complex chips may also be on the horizon.
At the same time, storage chip giants such as Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron are using 3D NAND flash memory to achieve technological breakthroughs, with the goal of ultimately producing up to 500 layers of chips. These three companies currently produce over 230 layers of storage chips.
The continuous progress in these two fields not only requires advanced equipment, but also new cutting-edge material libraries. For example, the leap in logic chip production to 2nm requires a completely new chip architecture. In this new architecture called Ring Gate (GAA), transistors are stacked in a more complex 3D manner than early planar configurations.
O'Neill stated that developing materials for new transistor configurations, such as ring gates, requires innovative materials to "uniformly cover the top, bottom, and sides," and added that the industry is designing methods to "achieve this at the atomic level.".
Another reason why chemicals are becoming increasingly important is the need to ensure stable quality. O'Neill stated that production yield has become extremely important in determining which manufacturers have commercial competitiveness. High purity chemicals are crucial for ensuring perfect production and minimizing defects.
Beckmann from Merck provides another example of material evolution in the industry: copper is widely used as a conductive layer in current chip manufacturing processes, but the industry is exploring new materials such as molybdenum to manufacture smaller and more advanced chips.
But continuous innovation leads to rising costs. According to International Business Strategies, a chip industry consulting firm, the cost of a single 2nm wafer is as high as $30000, which is 50% higher than the previous generation (i.e. the 3nm processor used in the iPhone 15 Pro).