On the afternoon of May 23, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry announced an amendment to the Foreign Exchange Law, officially incorporating 23 categories such as advanced chip manufacturing equipment into export control, which will take effect on July 23.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's list covers 23 categories such as cleaning film forming heat treatment exposure etching and inspection . The list includes equipment for manufacturing extreme ultraviolet ultraviolet products and etching equipment for three-dimensional stacked memory .
Statistics from the United Nations International Trade Center show that Japan's exports of manufacturing equipment to the Chinese mainland reached about 12 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, accounting for nearly 40 percent of the total exports of equipment to the world, the highest among all regions. Exports are nearly twice that of US equipment exports to China.
Japan's share of the semiconductor market has fallen from 50 percent in the late 1980s to about 10 percent today, but it still has some leading makers of chipmaking equipment.
The United States imposed restrictions on exports of chipmaking equipment to China in October to slow the growth of its chip industry and even its military, and has been seeking cooperation from major chipmaking peers the Netherlands and Japan.
The Japanese government said today it plans to restrict exports of 23 types of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, in line with U.S. moves to curb China's ability to make advanced chips. Japan's trade and industry minister said in a press release that export controls would be imposed on six categories of equipment used in chip manufacturing, including cleaning, deposition, lithography and etching. But did not name China as the target of the measures, saying equipment makers would need to seek export licenses for all regions.
Here are some Japanese semiconductor manufacturing equipment suppliers.
Tokyo Electronics
Tokyo Electron is the third largest supplier of semiconductor manufacturing equipment in the world, after Applied Materials in the United States and ASML in the Netherlands. It also manufactures panel display devices.
From October to December last year, Tokyo Electronics' chip equipment sales in China fell 22.3% year-on-year to 102.7 billion yen, accounting for 22.4% of total chip equipment sales in the quarter.
The company lowered its sales forecast for the year to March 2023 by 250 billion yen ($1.88 billion), or 10.6 per cent, in November, partly because of tighter US export restrictions on China, and later raised its revenue forecast by 70bn yen.
"Many Chinese companies are accelerating their investment plans and requesting earlier delivery times due to concerns that they will not be able to obtain equipment as international trade barriers rise," executives said in an earnings call in February.
Edwan test
Advantest is a chip test equipment manufacturer, founded in 1954, providing automated test equipment and integrated test technology solutions to the global semiconductor industry, competing with US-based Teradyne.
China was the largest market for Idewan testing between October and December, accounting for 32.9% of global sales in the quarter.
An executive at Edwan Testing said in January that “We believe there is little risk that U.S. export restrictions to China will directly prevent us from selling our testers. However, we may be indirectly affected by these restrictions, as they may stop supplying other companies' production equipment, prompting our customers to review their business plans.”
SCREEN
Founded in 1943, SCREEN is the sixth-largest semiconductor equipment manufacturer in the world, providing washing machines, etching, development / coating, etc. Among them, cleaning equipment has been firmly in the leading position of the semiconductor industry for many years.
The company expects shipments to China to account for 20% of its Y375 billion chip-making equipment sales in the year to March.
The company has said sales to China could be affected by U.S. export restrictions, but any decline could be made up by higher demand elsewhere.
Nikon Corporation
Nikon manufactures deep ultraviolet lithography, the second most advanced chip microcircuit system after extreme ultraviolet lithography. At the end of the last century, Nikon is a well-deserved lithography giant, from the late 1980s to the beginning of this century, Nikon lithography market share of more than 50%.
Nikon accounted for about 28 percent of total sales in China in the fiscal year ending March 2022, with about 40 percent of sales coming from its lithography business.
Muneaki Tokunari, Nikon's chief financial officer, said at a February 9 earnings briefing that Nikon would monitor developments closely as the company exports a "certain amount" of products to China.
Lasertec
Lasertec is the world's only manufacturer of semiconductor detection equipment using extreme ultraviolet mask lithography. Lasertec focused on design and development, delegating the bulk of production externally, and the benefits of its "fab-light factory" expanded earnings. The chip measurement maker's sales in China account for less than 10 percent of its global sales. Lasertec said the export restrictions would have a "limited, negligible impact" on the company because of its small sales in China.
Heat Treatment Related (Class 1)
"Anneal" for reflow of copper (Cu), cobalt (Co), tungsten (W) (any element) in a vacuum state below 0.01 Pa. Testing equipment (Class 1) A detection device for a light mask plate (Mask Blanks) in the direction of EUV exposure, or a "mask with a circuit". Exposure Related (Class 4) 1. Protective film (Pellicle) for EUV exposure. 2. Production equipment for the protective film (Pellicle) for EUV exposure. 3. Photoresist coating and developing equipment (Coater Developer) for EUV exposure. 4. Step-repeat, step-scan lithography apparatus for processing wafers (light source wavelength of 193 nm or more, and light source wavelength multiplied by 0.25 divided by numerical aperture value of 45 or less). (According to the author's calculations, Nikon's ArF immersion exposure equipment belongs to the scope of this control, and the exposure equipment before dry etching ArF is not in this scope.) ）
Dry cleaning equipment, wet cleaning equipment (Class 3)
1. A device for removing polymer residue and copper oxide film to form a copper film under a vacuum state of 0.01 Pa. 2. A multi-chamber device for dry etching used in a pre-treatment process to remove oxide film from wafer surfaces. 3. Single-chip wet cleaning equipment (drying after the surface properties of the wafer are changed). Etching (Class 3) 1. It belongs to isotropic etching equipment, and the selection ratio of silicon germanium (SiGe) and silicon (Si) is more than 100; The utility model belongs to anisotropic etching equipment, and includes a high-frequency pulse output power supply, and a high-speed switching valve with a switching time of less than 300 m seconds and an electrostatic chuck. 2. Wet etching equipment, and the etching selection ratio of silicon germanium (SiGe) and silicon (Si) is more than 100. 3. It is an isotropic etching device, and the ratio of etching depth to etching width is greater than 30 times, and the etching width is less than 100 nm for etching dielectric material size. Equipment containing a high-speed pulse output power supply and a high-speed switching valve with a switching time of less than 300 m seconds. Film Forming Equipment (Class 11) 1. The various types of film forming equipment shown below. * Equipment for forming cobalt (Co) films by electroplating. Apparatus for forming cobalt (Co) films by electroplating. The use of bottom-up (Bottom-up) film-forming technology, when filling cobalt (Co) or tungsten (W), the filling metal void, or seam of the maximum size of 3 nanometers below CVD equipment. Equipment for forming a metal contact layer (film) by performing multiple processes in the same chamber, hydrogen (or a mixture containing hydrogen, nitrogen, and ammonia) plasma equipment, and equipment for forming a tungsten (W) film using organic compounds while maintaining a wafer temperature of 100 degrees to 500 degrees. A film forming apparatus capable of maintaining a vacuum state (or an inert environment) with air pressure below 0.01 Pa, containing a plurality of cavities, and capable of handling a plurality of processes, And the metal contact layer film forming equipment used in all the following processes: (1) the process of forming a titanium nitride layer film or a tungsten carbide layer film by using an organometallic compound while maintaining a wafer temperature of 20 degrees to 500 degrees. (2) A process for forming a cobalt (Co) layer film using a sputtering process while keeping the wafer temperature below 500 degrees and at a pressure of 0.1333Pa to 13.33Pa. (3) A process for forming a cobalt (Co) layer film using organometallic compounds while maintaining a wafer temperature of 20 degrees to 500 degrees and at a pressure of 133.3 Pa to 13.33 kPa. Equipment that forms copper lines using all of the following processes. (1) The process of forming a cobalt (Co) layer film or ruthenium (Ru) layer film using organometallic compounds in the range of 133.3Pa-13.33kPa while maintaining a wafer temperature of 20 degrees to 500 degrees. (2) A process for forming a copper (Cu) layer film using PVD technology while keeping the wafer temperature below 500 degrees and at a pressure of 0.1333Pa to 13.33Pa. An ALD device that selectively forms a barrier or liner using metal organic compounds. In order to maintain the wafer temperature below 500 degrees at the same time, in order to make the insulation film and the insulation film between the gap between the width and depth ratio of more than five times, and the gap width of 40 nm below), and filled with tungsten (W) or cobalt (Co) ALD equipment. 2. A film forming device for selectively growing tungsten (W) or molybdenum (Mo) under a vacuum (or inert environment) with a pressure of 0.01 Pa without using a barrier layer. 3. A device for forming a ruthenium (Ru) film using organometallic compounds while maintaining a wafer temperature of 20 degrees to 500 degrees. 4. "Space Atomic Layer Deposition Devices (Devices That Support and Rotate Axis Wafers Only)." (1) Using plasma, an atomic layer film is formed. (2) With a plasma source. (3) Having a "Plasma Shield" or related technical means for sealing the isolites in the plasma irradiation area. 5. Devices capable of film formation at temperatures of 400 degrees to 650 degrees, or chemical reactions using radicals generated in other spaces (not in the same space as the wafer), All of the following devices that can form silicon (Si) or carbon (C) films are in the restricted outlet range: (1) Relative Permittivity is less than 5.3. (2) For lines with a horizontal aperture portion size less than 70 nm, the ratio to the line depth is more than five times. (3) The line pitch (pitch) of the line is below 100 nm. 6. Equipment for forming a multilayer reflective film (a mask for extreme ultraviolet integrated circuit manufacturing equipment) by ion beam evaporation or physical vapor growth (PVD) process. 7. All of the following equipment for the epitaxial growth of silicon (Si) or silicon germanium (SiGe) (including carbon-added materials) fall under the control. (1) Equipment with multiple cavities that can maintain a vacuum state below 0.01 Pa (or in an inert environment where the partial pressure of water and oxygen is below 0.01 Pa) between multiple processes. (2) Equipment for semiconductor front-end processes with cavities designed to purify the wafer surface. (3) Equipment with an epitaxial growth operating temperature below 685 degrees. 8. Plasma technology can be used to form a carbon hard mask (Carbon Hard Mask) with a thickness of more than 100nm and a stress of less than 450MPa. 9. Equipment for the formation of tungsten (W) films (limited to 10 to 19 fluorine atoms per cubic centimeter) by atomic layer deposition or chemical vapor deposition. 10. In order not to create gaps between metal wires (limited to width less than 25 nanometers and depth greater than 50 nanometers), a plasma film forming apparatus is used to form a low dielectric layer film with a relative dielectric constant lower than 3.3. 11. Annealing equipment operating in a vacuum state below 0.01 Pa minimizes or disappears the voids and joints of copper wires by reflowing copper (Cu), cobalt (Co), and tungsten (W).
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