Challenges in China's Semiconductor Industry: Addressing Technological Gaps for Global Competitiveness

The semiconductor industry is one of the key fields in the world today, playing a crucial role in the development of the global economy and technological innovation. However, there are some shortcomings in China's semiconductor material products,semiconductor testing which result in the inability of terminal product performance to match chips prepared abroad.

Firstly, China has a significant technological gap in the field of high-end chips. Although the technology in the basic field is mature and even surpasses foreign countries and leads the world in some aspects, there is still a significant gap between domestic and foreign countries in the high-end chip field. From chip design, wafer processing, to packaging testing, there are shortcomings in all aspects of China's industrial chain, which leads to the inability of terminal product performance to compete with chips prepared abroad.

Secondly, the differences in preparation processes result in the inability of the final product to meet the requirements of small and precise size. The semiconductor industry has a long industrial chain, with each step interconnected and influencing the entire body. However,semiconductor failure analysis in the entire semiconductor chip industry chain in China, the purity of raw materials in the upstream is insufficient, and the high-precision preparation technology in the midstream is lacking, resulting in downstream products being unable to reach international standards. Especially in the two key links of epitaxial technology and photolithography in wafer manufacturing, China's disadvantages are even more obvious.

Firstly, the epitaxial equipment for wafer manufacturing needs to be improved. Wafer manufacturing refers to the process of using silicon dioxide as a raw material to produce monocrystalline silicon, which requires equipment such as melting furnaces, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) equipment, single crystal furnaces, and slicers. However, China still relies on imported production equipment, such as the single crystal furnace used by Zhonghuan Group, imported from Germany. In addition, in terms of epitaxial technology, semiconductor preparation processes at home and abroad are gradually widening the gap.

Secondly, the low lithography accuracy in China affects the high efficiency of integrated circuits. The gap in photolithography technology is one of the key reasons for the insufficient performance of semiconductor chips in China. Photolithography machines are the core equipment for semiconductor integrated circuit manufacturing, but China lags behind foreign countries in this field of technology. ASML, a Dutch company,aotomatic prober monopolizes 80% of the global lithography machine market. In addition, the poor performance of photoresists is also a problem. Photoresist is the core material used in the lithography process, and its production technical indicators are strictly controlled. However, domestic enterprises often face the dilemma of being monopolized due to high technical barriers in high-end products.

Finally, insufficient accuracy of the key tool mask is also a problem. Mask plate is a key tool used in the lithography process, and its accuracy directly affects the preparation quality of integrated circuits. At present, the mask preparation level of several well-known domestic enterprises such as China Resources Microelectronics, Wuxi Zhongwei Mask, Suzhou Plate Making, etc. is generally still at 0.13 μ There is still a certain gap compared to foreign enterprises at levels above m.

In summary, China has some shortcomings in semiconductor material products, which leads to the inability of terminal product performance to compete with chips prepared abroad. To address these issues, China needs to increase research and development investment, improve technological level, strengthen international cooperation, and promote the development of the semiconductor industry.