Canon Is Building Its First Lithography Plant In 21 Years (petapixel.com) 13
Canon is about to begin constructing a new $345 million plant to build the equipment used in a crucial part of semiconductor manufacturing called lithography. PetaPixel reports: Lithography is the first step in building chips for everything from microwave ovens to defense systems. The machines involved in this process require incredibly precise steps and equally precise accuracy. It is part of what most people think of when they envision the large white clean rooms in processor manufacturing. According to Nikkei Asia, which covers the industry and economics of Japan, Canon is expected to invest more than $354 million in this new plant in the Tochigi prefecture, a sum covering the facility's construction and the equipment to produce these lithographic machines.
The company currently operates two other plants in Japan, mainly for the production of chips for the automotive industry, and anticipates that this new facility will double the production capacity. According to Nikkei Asia, sales of semiconductor lithography equipment are "expected to rise 29%, year on year, in 2022 to 180 units, a fourfold increase versus ten years ago." Currently, Canon produces 30% of the world's lithography equipment, which is about half of the closest competitor, ASML. Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor have said they will expand their operations as well.
Nikkei Asia also notes that Canon will "develop next-generation technology called nanoimprint lithography" due to the high cost and high energy consumption of current equipment, and nanoimprint lithography will handle "finer line widths," which means more capacity and reduced processing time per chip. Canon is reported to expect 40% lower costs for the new process, as well as a reduction in power consumption by 90%. The new plant is expected to come online in 2025 and will be built adjacent to an existing plant. Canon has not created a new lithography plant in 21 years.
The company currently operates two other plants in Japan, mainly for the production of chips for the automotive industry, and anticipates that this new facility will double the production capacity. According to Nikkei Asia, sales of semiconductor lithography equipment are "expected to rise 29%, year on year, in 2022 to 180 units, a fourfold increase versus ten years ago." Currently, Canon produces 30% of the world's lithography equipment, which is about half of the closest competitor, ASML. Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor have said they will expand their operations as well.
Nikkei Asia also notes that Canon will "develop next-generation technology called nanoimprint lithography" due to the high cost and high energy consumption of current equipment, and nanoimprint lithography will handle "finer line widths," which means more capacity and reduced processing time per chip. Canon is reported to expect 40% lower costs for the new process, as well as a reduction in power consumption by 90%. The new plant is expected to come online in 2025 and will be built adjacent to an existing plant. Canon has not created a new lithography plant in 21 years.
90% reduction (Score:2)
Compared to what? Their 21 year old tech?
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Their tech isn't 21 years old. Their plant is. It's not like they built the plant and fired the R&D department and have had no presence in silicon manufacture for the past 2 decades.
This is the first plant in 21 years they are building themselves, not the first semiconductor manufacturing equipment sold in 21 years. In that market they have a thriving business.
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Judging from the parts we use at my work (for automotive stuff) no, their shit's still a couple decades old. Sure they sell stuff to everyone else, but do they drink their own kool-aid constantly? I doubt it.
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Judging from the parts we use at my work (for automotive stuff) no, their shit's still a couple decades old.
No their shit isn't a couple of decades old. It is designed to make a technology node size that was state of the art a couple of decades ago. There's a big difference. Not every application in the world (and certainly not your automotive part) benefits from the latest 3nm TSMC process.
Really? (Score:5, Informative)
There was direct E-Beam lithography which was championed by IBM, but dropped with throughput issues.
Next up was EUV lithography which is what we've finally gotten now after 30 years of very expensive development.
The third darkhorse option was nano-imprint, which is basically really awesome rubber stamps. It was discarded early for longevity issues and potential contamination when the stamps decayed. It was supposed to be cheap and fast. It'll be interesting to se what Canon does with it.
Re: Really? (Score:1)
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Lifetime of the chips, or lifetime of the masks for creating the chips? Maybe it's just that you need to replace your gear every few wafers, but the chips themselves are fine.
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Smart business case by Canon. I wonder how that spat of Japan not supplying Korea with very pure fab chemicals is going? With respect the Chinese have invented a new way to get EUV litho using liquid to defract, rather than ultra precise mirror and lens polishing. Sounds like they can modify their DUV machines to get to about 10nm, but the magic question is what is the yield like.
So the Chinese have invented Immersion Lithography [wikipedia.org], which everyone else has been using for years?
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TFA is most confused about the subject... (Score:2)
lithography unlikely to compete with ASML (Score:2)