Huawei defying the U.S. sanctions and proceeding to mass produce the 7nm Kirin 9000S for a range of flagships is regarded as a miracle by industry watchers, but that does not mean that the road ahead is going to be any easier. A former TSMC Vice President of Research And Development who is also known for inventing immersion lithography is considered a ‘chip guru’ in the latest report, and he states that fabricating a 5nm chipset on the existing DUV equipment is going to be highly expensive, but doable.
Using DUV machinery to mass produce a 5nm silicon requires at least a four-fold patterning process, which is not only time-consuming but expensive too
The P70, P70, and P70 Art are reportedly under development for 2024 and are expected to be Huawei’s first wave of flagship handsets for next year. However, there is still no information on which chipset these premium smartphones will use, but Burn Lin, who is referred to as a ‘chip guru’ by DigiTimes, claims that gravitating from a 7nm chip to a 5nm on DUV machinery is possible, but it is going to cost Huawei. According to the report, on SMIC’s existing DUV lithography, mass producing a 5nm SoC requires a four-fold patterning as the bare minimum.
Unfortunately, the drawback to this process is that not only is it time-consuming, but it is also expensive and will impact overall yield, suggesting that Huawei may not have sufficient supply of its ‘next-generation’ 5nm Kirin silicon available for the P70 series next year. However, Lin does not compare mass producing 5nm chips on EUV machinery compared to DUV. ASML, a Dutch manufacturer of cutting-edge machinery, has been banned from supplying Chinese entities such as SMIC with the necessary equipment to break the 7nm threshold, with the U.S. attempting to stifle the region’s progress.
Another challenge is that when using DUV machinery, precision alignment is needed during multiple exposures, which can take time, and there are possibilities that any misalignment will happen, resulting in reduced yields and increased time to make those wafers. Lin has stated that six-fold patterns are possible for immersive DUV technology, but again, the problem comes from the associated drawbacks mentioned above.
As a result, SMIC may charge Huawei an incredible sum for these 5nm wafers, and given that the former Chinese giant is only limited to one country for the majority of its smartphone shipments, the chipset volume will also be lower, causing the price of these Kirin SoCs to rise further. There is no word if Huawei and SMIC can procure some EUV equipment in the future but reports state that the Chinese government is pouring billions to reduce dependency on external suppliers, including those under the influence of the U.S.
News Source: DigiTimes
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
