Taiwan’s TSMC has the most related patents, even though semiconductor companies all over the world are attempting to acquire lithography technology for the implementation of ultra-fine processes. TSMC has approximately 170 more patents than Samsung Electronics, which is its rival.
On the 27th, the institution TechInsights, which specializes in semiconductor analysis, reported that Samsung Electronics holds fewer patents than TSMC does for EUV and other next-generation lithography technologies.
Compared to the KrF (krypton fluoride) and ArF (argon fluoride) light sources used in the current exposure process, EUV has a shorter wavelength of approximately 1/14. This makes it possible to efficiently implement finer circuits, and its use in advanced memory and system semiconductor manufacturing processes is gradually expanding. Carl Zeiss, an optical company that is a major partner of ASML, and TSMC and Samsung Electronics, which manufacture semiconductors through the EUV process, are among the major participants. ASML is the only manufacturer of EUV lithography equipment in the world.
These four companies hold 1,114 EUV lithography patents at the moment. Carl Zeiss (353 cases) and ASML (345 cases) represent a significant portion of them. TSMC is number one in the foundry industry and holds 279 patents. Samsung Electronics had 137 cases, half as many as TSMC, its main rival.
Even though the semiconductor industry is paying a lot of attention to EUV, which is on track for full-scale commercialization, research and development on alternative technologies like NIL (nanoimprint) and DSA (guided self-assembly) are also going on. This is due to the limited supply chain and the high cost of EUV exposure equipment, which exceeds 200 billion won per unit.
Photoresist (PR) is applied to a wafer in NIL, and a circuit is formed by stamping a specific pattern onto the stamp. It is possible to implement a delicate process at a lower cost than the existing exposure process because it does not make use of a lens.
Compared to the current exposure process, DSA is a method for forming patterns with chemical materials that also benefit from cost reduction. However, because they do not meet reliability requirements like defect control, NIL and DSA are still in the R&D stage.
Canon holds the record for the most NIL lithography patents with 913. There are 145 and 70 patents held by TSMC and Samsung Electronics, respectively. However, in terms of DSA lithography patents, TSMC had 24 patents, while Samsung Electronics had 68.
“TSMC is the leading foundry in advanced lithography research and development, investing the most in EUV, but also paying a lot of attention to NIL and DSA,” according to TechInsights. It’s not as good as TSMC, but it works hard to get patents.
In contrast, major North American semiconductor companies like Intel, IBM, and Global Foundry do not rank among the top ten in terms of patent holdings. In the case of China, the Chinese Academy of Sciences actively invests in the development of EUV-related technology, and it has been demonstrated that the number of EUV/NIL/DSA patents has been steadily rising until the most recent time.
