Chinese researchers have made early strides in pushing semiconductor processing nodes below 3 nanometers using legacy lithography technology, as ASML’s more advanced extreme ultraviolet lithography tools remain blocked under US sanctions.
This breakthrough represents the latest progress in China’s efforts to chart an alternative path for advanced chip manufacturing amid US export restrictions. Under current export control rules, Dutch equipment giant ASML is banned from selling its latest UV machines – necessary to produce chips below the 7nm node – to Chinese customers.
In the latest development, the state-backed Chinese Academy of Sciences has established a preliminary path for the development of a gate-to-door (GAA) device using less advanced deep lithography (DUV), Taiwanese media Digitimes reported on Thursday, citing a speech by Yi Tianchun, a veteran expert from the academy’s Institute of Microelectronics (IMECAS).
The institute has completed early integration of nanochannel GAA CMOS transistors using DUV tools, Yi said. He described the result as “a new path to early-stage MOS transistor process for sub-3nm advanced manufacturing in China,” according to the Digitimes article.
