From "Three Generations Shortcomings" to "Full Coverage" - Record of Independent Research and Development of Domestic Ion Implanters

2024-03-19

When it comes to ion implantation machines, those familiar with integrated circuits know that this equipment, along with lithography machines, etching machines, and coating machines, is known as the "four core equipment" of chip manufacturing. Its high-end market has long been monopolized by foreign countries. More than 20 years ago, in order to break through the bottleneck of independent innovation in integrated circuit equipment, the 48th Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Group (hereinafter referred to as "CETC Equipment"), a subsidiary of China Electronics Technology Corporation, formed a research and development team and embarked on the path of research and development for ion implantation machines. "At that time, the process accuracy of China's ion implantation machines was only 0.5 microns, which was three generations lower than the internationally advanced 90 nanometers in terms of technical indicators." Jing Cui, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of CETC Equipment, recently told a reporter from Science and Technology Daily, "The R&D team caught up and successively conquered more than a thousand key technologies, achieving the leap of domestic ion implantation machines from scratch to 'multi-point flowering'." At the beginning of this year, "CETC achieved full coverage of domestic ion implantation machines with a 28 nanometer process" was selected as the "Top Ten Central Enterprises in 2023". ". When the "Lonely Hero Expedition" created the first prototype to manufacture chips, pure silicon lacked conductivity and needed to be mixed with different types of elements to change its structure and conductivity. This process requires an ion implantation machine to complete - controlling the high-speed movement of ions through electromagnetic fields, accurately injecting them into silicon-based materials according to process requirements, thereby controlling the conductivity of the materials, and forming the basic units of integrated circuit devices such as PN junctions. In 2003, the R&D team embarked on a journey of tackling high-end ion implantation machines. Due to a lack of domestic experience and technological blockade from abroad, team members described the situation at that time as a "solitary and brave expedition". Peng Libo, the technical chief designer of Beijing Shuoke Zhongkexin Electronic Equipment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shuoke Zhongkexin"), a subsidiary of Dianke Equipment, recalled that they crowded into a small apartment to study design drawings and conducted experiments in a rented small factory. The young graduates in the team, young adults who have just started a family and have children, and retired comrades all work and live together, and only return home once every three months. In order to quickly create equipment with market competitiveness, the R&D team has chosen a 100 nanometer model as a reference machine. "Why is it designed like this? What is the corresponding relationship with the application? We need to understand, digest and absorb it one by one." Peng Libo said. At that time, there was a lack of computer-aided design tools. Faced with the precise and complex internal structure of ion implantation machines, several experienced teachers racked their brains and spent all day studying the equipment, relying solely on two-dimensional design and spatial conception to understand these structures. It took several weeks to figure it out. "The ion implantation machine is controlled by a fiber optic communication system, and we must understand the underlying control logic of the fiber optic communication module," Peng Libo told reporters. Due to the fact that only binary code can be obtained from the prototype, R&D personnel are forced to crack it in reverse, carefully analyze it line by line, and explore the control instructions and their corresponding functions, repeatedly pondering the impact of these instructions on product process accuracy and technical indicators. After nearly two years of research and development, the R&D team has thoroughly understood the principles of machine construction and control design ideas, and completed the design scheme of the independent prototype. They have also overcome the difficulties in developing key components, ultimately creating the first prototype.

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