China's "little giant" enters the global industrial chain (the "little giant"'s attack road ③)
"The shortage of chips will lead to a reduction of 200,000 cars in production"-a domestic auto industry giant's announcement caused the auto industry to "lack of cores" and sparked heated discussions.
In fact, since last year, the "core shortage tide" caused by the superposition of multiple complex factors has swept the world, spreading to many industries such as mobile phones, computers, home appliances, and automobiles.
The supply difficulties of key raw materials and core equipment are difficult to alleviate for a while, and downstream industries are very troubled.
"You can't put your eggs in the same basket", diversify suppliers, and allow more entities from different countries and regions to participate in this industrial chain, in order to better resist risks-this is a lesson learned by the global market at a high price.
Today, as China’s semiconductor industry is struggling to catch up, some "specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative" companies are small in scale and rarely appear under the spotlight, but they are silently aiming at market segments and working hard to polish them. Such products have successfully entered the global semiconductor industry chain and contributed to the stabilization of this trillion-level market.
Make up for the shortcomings and make up for the missing lessons
"We have left too many lessons." Pan Liansheng, chairman of Shengong shares, sighed with emotion.
He has more than 20 years of experience in the field of semiconductor materials and is one of the few technical experts with advanced fab experience in China.
Wafer, also known as "silicon wafer", is the basic material for chip manufacturing.
"If you compare manufacturing chips to embroidery, silicon chips are like white cloth for embroidery." Pan Liansheng gave reporters a vivid analogy.
However, wafer production is one of the most absent areas in China's semiconductor industry chain.
High investment barriers, high technical barriers, and high market barriers-Pan Liansheng's "three highs" are the obstacles to entering this industry.
A few years ago, many Chinese companies have set off an upsurge in manufacturing chips, but the critical upstream materials have not received enough attention due to the small market size.
"To complement the industrial chain and contribute higher-quality products to the world, we have to make up this course." Pan Liansheng said.
Returning from overseas in 2012, Pan Liansheng went to various places in search of land, personnel and funds.
In the end, Shengong was established in Jinzhou, Liaoning in the following year.
Due to historical reasons, this small town in Northeast China has the earliest monocrystalline silicon production base in China, as well as many skilled workers who are familiar with vacuum high-temperature furnaces and hard and brittle material processing techniques. The industrial foundation is superior.
However, the investment threshold of the wafer industry is too high-starting at 1 billion yuan, how can there be so much money?
He had to start with the less difficult "monocrystalline silicon for etching".
Monocrystalline silicon for etching is an important basic material for the assembly of an etching machine, a key equipment for chip manufacturing. In contrast, the investment threshold is low.
Domestic manufacturers rarely get involved, and their profits are considerable. They have many similarities with wafer production.
Aiming at this segmented product, Pan Liansheng led the team on the road of "make up lessons".
In the conversations between reporters and many practitioners, "make up lessons" is a high-frequency word that repeatedly appears in all links of the semiconductor industry chain.
Lithography is the core process of chip manufacturing. This link embroiders the "pattern" of the integrated circuit on the silicon wafer.
"The lithography process requires more than 100 electronic grade high-purity industrial gases to cooperate with each other, each of which is indispensable. They are the'blood' of the semiconductor industry. Some domestic companies have spent decades trying to keep trying. Overcome the initial cleaning of containers." said Zhu Enfu, chairman of Kaimet Gas, "the difficulty lies in its extremely high purity requirements."
How high is it?
The impurity content concentration is required to reach at least one part per million.
What concept?
Zhu Enfu drew an analogy, which is equivalent to a 100-meter-long, 25-meter-wide, and 2-meter-deep swimming pool without impurities more than the size of a coin.
And every drop of the impurity content concentration by one order of magnitude will bring about a significant increase in the complexity of the process.
In 2018, this company that purifies food-grade carbon dioxide from industrial waste gas has become an important supplier to many international food and beverage companies.
In the same year, the company made a decision to bravely climb the new peak of electronic special gas, and invested 230 million yuan to build a factory in Yueyang, Hunan.
Practice internal strength, bury your head and do one thing well
More than 100 gases are used in the lithography process. Where do you start?
"We chose the most difficult topic-laser mixing gas." Zhu Enfu said.
Why is it the hardest?
Purity is only one aspect. The more difficult thing is how to avoid accidental chemical reactions when multiple gases coexist, which requires higher precision in operation.
"It requires trial and error, constant adjustment of parameters, and accumulation of experience." Zhu Enfu said.
Successively tackled key issues such as container cleaning, gas purification, and gas mixing. After two years of arduous technical research, a series of products will be launched on the market in 2020.
The technical team sent sample data to major international factories non-stop, started multiple certification procedures in parallel and concurrently, and seized the time to obtain admission tickets as soon as possible.
"In two years, we have completed the 10-year journey of the international gas giants." Zhu Enfu couldn't hide his pride in his tone.
What's the secret?
It lies in a strong R&D team.
This team was formed by Zhu Enfu for 5 years, constantly running around, searching, and lobbying in high-end international industry forums and industry exhibitions.
"At the time, someone advised me to invest in factories abroad, with preferential policies and a mature team, so I don’t need to be so strenuous, but I insisted that Chinese companies need to participate more in the semiconductor industry chain. Maybe it won’t play a big role right now, but it will be important in the future. Sex will be prominent." Now, Blessing's judgment is becoming a reality.
An energetic R&D team is also a magic weapon for Pan Liansheng.
The initial technical team of Shengong Co., Ltd. consisted of more than a dozen people. Although they all had experience in the industry, they also faced some practical difficulties.
The machinery and equipment first tested the team.
The old factory building has been growing for a long time, the equipment control accuracy is poor, and the technical parameters are not up to the requirements.
If foreign counterparts use "supercars", the equipment they have is "classic cars."
"We set out to optimize the equipment, repeated tests, replaced and added sensors, and transformed key components to make these equipment obedient and smooth." Pan Liansheng said.
The size of monocrystalline silicon must be controlled well.
In the wafer etching process, the silicon electrode made of monocrystalline silicon is consumed simultaneously with the wafer and needs to be larger in size than the wafer.
For example, to process a 12-inch wafer, the size of the corresponding monocrystalline silicon material for etching is generally at least 14 inches.
For cost reduction considerations, when the chip manufacturing process advances from 28 nanometers to 7 nanometers or even 5 nanometers, the mainstream wafer sizes used in advanced processes have increased from 8 inches to 12 inches or larger. This also means that The size of monocrystalline silicon for etching must increase accordingly.
After months of intensive exploration, failure, and re-exploration, good news on the production line of Shengong Co., Ltd. were frequent: It achieved mass production of 14 inches to 19 inches, and successfully grown high-quality silicon single crystals with a diameter of 22 inches in May 2020.
"The company's product yield and quality can reach a high level, so it is recognized by foreign customers, and competitors have become partners." Pan Liansheng said.
Today, Shengong has a considerable annual output of large-size monocrystalline silicon materials, and its international market share has continued to increase. It has successfully entered the international advanced semiconductor material industry chain system and has formed a global advantage in related subdivisions.
Strong advantage, aiming at the frontier for a long time
Pan Liansheng, who has achieved success in the monocrystalline silicon market for etching, is not satisfied.
The technical and economic benefits accumulated in the production of monocrystalline silicon make the shift to wafer production a natural outcome. This is also the long-term wish of Shengong.
Existing technologies such as "solid-liquid coexistence interface control technology" and "thermal field size optimization process" can be applied to wafer manufacturing.
Shengong shares with these valuable technical experience to advance to a more precarious high ground.
However, compared to the previous pursuit of "large diameter", it is now necessary to adjust to the direction of "low defect" and "high yield".
"The yield rate determines our development prospects. Success in the materials industry is the accumulation of countless details of many processes. It requires a combination of man and machine to accumulate through trial and error, rather than'burning money'." Pan Liansheng Say.
Under the exploration of the technicians, through repetitive experiments and refined quality control measures, Shengong has successfully developed a low-defect growth technology for chips using 8-inch crystals (ie wafer base materials) without the assistance of magnetic fields, which is the next stage The development and mass production of chips lay a good foundation with 12-inch low-defect crystals.
As of the first half of 2021, ShenGong has 31 patents, many of which are at the international advanced level. The company’s R&D investment was 19.46 million yuan, an increase of 268.5% year-on-year, and the number of R&D personnel increased by 17 compared with the same period last year.
"In the future, we will strengthen exchanges and cooperation with peers, strengthen industrial coordination, and strive to become a'supporting expert', and follow the path of'specialization, specialization, and innovation'." Pan Liansheng is full of confidence.
"It is a great encouragement to us to be awarded the national-level specialization and special new'little giant' enterprise." Zhu Enfu is very clear about the future. "We still have a big gap with our international counterparts, and in general we are still in the catching-up stage." He said that in the future, he will continue to increase investment in research and development, strengthen the construction of the talent team, concentrate on the pursuit of excellent quality, and consolidate the technological moat.
It is reported that Kaimet Gas will implement the "Electronic Special Gas Project" in phases and batches, and will complete the construction of 25 sets of electronic special gas and mixed gas production and processing equipment, extending to the full range of electronic special gas fields, forming a greater influence in the industry The strong professional electronic special gas and mixed gas research and development and production and processing bases contribute to the expansion of market supply.
Conquer each fortress and fill in the domestic gaps. While expanding China’s semiconductor industry chain, attract high-quality foreign capital, high-end talents, and advanced technology, achieve a higher level of opening up, add a choice to the international semiconductor industry chain, and enhance market resistance Risk capability-the dedicated Chinese semiconductor "little giant" contains great energy.
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