IPF RAS: Lithographs for the production of microelectronics of ultra-small nanometry

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• Electronics industry (Russian market)
• Microelectronics (Global Market)

2022: Lithograph development progress for 7nm chip release

The Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IPF RAS) in Nizhny Novgorod is developing a Russian lithography installation for the production of ultra-small nanometry microelectronics. This became known on October 21, 2022.

Photo source: msk1.ru

Scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences for October 2022 created a demonstration sample of equipment. This unit produced individual images on substrates with a resolution up to a limit of 7 nm.

Micron is a contract vendor semiconductors that is able to produce relatively relevant chips. The company has mastered the production of microcircuits in 65 nm topology, but only for piece batches - engineering samples. Mass production is established only for a topology of at least 90 nm.

An industrial sample of a domestic lithograph at 7 nm is planned to be created in six years. So, in 2024, an "alpha machine" will be created. Such an installation will become working equipment on which it will be possible to carry out a full cycle of operations.

At the second stage, a "beta machine" will appear in 2026. Equipment systems will be improved and complicated, resolution will increase, productivity will increase, many operations will be robotic, the Nizhny Novgorod strategy website says. The installation can already be used in large-scale industries.

And at the third stage (2026-2028), the domestic lithograph will receive a more powerful radiation source, improved positioning and supply systems, and will begin full-fledged work.

Compared to, for example, ASML lithographs in the Nizhny Novgorod model, the radiation source is several times more compact and cleaner in work, Nikolai Chkhalo noted. According to him, the latter circumstance significantly affects the cost, size and complexity of the equipment.

At the output with an equal power of the radiation source, the domestic installation will be 1.5-2 times more efficient than what ASML was created^[1].

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