Recently, due to the shortage of KrF (248nm) photoresist production capacity of Shin-Etsu Chemical in Japan and other reasons, many fabs in China are facing a tight supply of KrF photoresist, and some small and medium fabs even have "cut supply" of KrF photoresist. phenomenon. In the context of "a core is hard to find", the supply of photoresist has once again aroused widespread concern in the industry.

Photoresist is an indispensable material basis for photolithography. In the semiconductor manufacturing process, photolithography is the core processing technology, which directly determines the quality of the finished chip, and ultimately affects the performance level of downstream applications. It takes about 50% of the previous production and the cost accounts for about IC production. 1/3 of the cost. Among the equipment that needs to be used, the most well-known is undoubtedly the expensive EUV lithography machine. Especially after SMIC was included in the "Entity List" by the United States, EUV lithography machines were also pushed to the forefront of public opinion.

EUV lithography machine is an indispensable production equipment for 7nm and below process nodes. However, as the feature size of integrated circuits continues to shrink, EUV lithography machines will no longer be the biggest factor affecting the production process. The industry predicts that photoresist will become the biggest stumbling block for lithography machines to break through 3nm.

The Japanese monopoly market is difficult to break through

Photoresist, also known as photoresist, has the reputation of "the jewel in the crown of semiconductor materials". According to the application, it includes semiconductor photoresist, flat panel display photoresist and PCB photoresist. The main function of semiconductor photoresist is to transfer the design circuit pattern on the mask to the substrate such as silicon wafer, which is the highest technical barrier among the three.

The quality of photoresist will affect the performance, yield and reliability of integrated circuit chips. At present, Japanese companies such as Tokyo Yinghua, JSR, Sumitomo Chemical, Shin-Etsu Chemical hold 90% of the global semiconductor photoresist market share. Among them, Tokyo Application is in the leading position in the g-line/i-line and Krf photoresist field, and JSR has the highest market share in the Arf photoresist field.

However, due to the frequent earthquakes in Japan, the photoresist production capacity dominated by Japanese companies is full of uncertainties. The recent supply shortage is the best example. In view of this, how can Japan maintain its monopoly in the photoresist market?

It can be learned from some research reports that the composition of photoresist is relatively simple, generally including photoinitiators (including photosensitizers, photoacid generators), photoresist resins, monomers (reactive diluents), solvents and Other additives. Even so, different photolithography technology requires corresponding photoresist to be matched with it, in order to achieve maximum performance. Therefore, there are many types of photoresist and strong specificity. In addition, the accumulation of Japanese companies in the resin structure has also erected higher patent barriers for this industry.

Japan's leadership in the field of semiconductor materials is mainly due to its early overall leadership in the field of semiconductors. Japan's equipment and material industries have developed simultaneously with the chip industry. Although the status of chip manufacturing is declining, the material field still has a clear advantage.

As far as photoresist is concerned, each supplier has its own composition ratio formula and processing technology, which makes photoresist significantly different in performance parameters such as sensitivity, speed, resolution, and contrast. Japanese media believe that photoresist materials cannot be disassembled, it is difficult to analyze the manufacturing technology, and therefore difficult to be imitated. In addition, with the continuous development of the integrated circuit industry, the technical performance requirements such as the resolution of photoresist have also become higher and higher, making it difficult for new players to enter the market.

More importantly, the integrated circuit manufacturing process is extremely complicated. Once the adjustment of equipment and materials is involved, the verification process will be very time-consuming. According to industry information, the verification cycle of photoresist is relatively long, and the verification process depends on the customer's production capacity and the test time of the production machine, which can be as short as one year and as long as 3-5 years. To a certain extent, this also causes the customers of downstream photoresist manufacturers to be more sticky and will not easily change suppliers.

However, there will always be unexpected things.

On July 4, 2019, the Japanese government officially launched export control of semiconductor materials against South Korea. The three types of semiconductor materials that are subject to control are photoresist, hydrogen fluoride and fluoropolyimide, which are used as semiconductor and display manufacturing materials. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will undoubtedly bear the brunt.

Since then, the South Korean government has begun to promote the "localization of semiconductor materials" policy, but Japan has also repeatedly "greened" the export of photoresist. In the context of Japan's restrictions on trade, South Korea's imports of photoresist from Japan in 2020 reached 382.9 million US dollars, an increase of 22.3% year-on-year, accounting for 86.5% of South Korea's total imports of photoresist products.

Although South Korean wafer manufacturing companies have begun to use locally produced liquid hydrogen fluoride in small quantities, the amount of photoresist imports shows that South Korea’s dependence on Japanese photoresist has not decreased, and the road to localization still has a way to go.

Is domestic photoresist ushering in opportunities?

The situation in China is not optimistic either. The report of Founder Securities pointed out that mainland companies accounted for less than 13% of the global photoresist market. The localization rate of semiconductor photoresist is less than 5%. At present, PCB photoresist has the fastest progress in domestic substitution, LCD photoresist substitution progress is relatively fast, and the domestic technology of semiconductor photoresist has the largest gap compared with foreign advanced technology.

In terms of materials, industry experts pointed out that some domestic lithography materials (process materials) have begun small-scale trial production, with resolution close to imported products, but the current production capacity is not large; there is currently no domestic substitute for lithography materials (structural materials) , There is an urgent need to develop a variety of PI, insulating layer polymer materials, etc. In particular, in the development of high-end photoresist, China still faces a problem to be solved-the lack of EUV lithography machine for verification.

According to data from the International Semiconductor Industry Association (SEMI), last year, the sales revenue of wafer manufacturing materials reached 34.9 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 6.5%. Photoresist and supporting reagents, wet electronic chemicals, and CMP polishing materials grew the most. In the photoresist category, high-end photoresist contributed the largest share, with revenue increasing by 22% year-on-year. The continuous scaling of semiconductor manufacturing processes has pushed up the demand for high-end lithography technology. The large number of applications of EUV and multiple exposure stimulated higher consumption of ArF (193nm) and EUV (13.5nm) photoresists. There is no doubt that high-end photoresist will be the blue ocean of the industry in the future, and domestic photoresists are still mainly concentrated in the low-end.

However, China Galaxy released a research report on May 31 that the tight supply of photoresist will accelerate the pace of localization to a certain extent. Under the background of domestic semiconductor localization in recent years, more and more domestic companies have participated in the research and development of photoresist, and some of them have achieved breakthroughs from 0 to 1 in some areas.

Among them, Beijing Kehua, a subsidiary of Tongcheng New Materials, has achieved mass production of g-line/i-line and KrF photoresist, and many fabs are accelerating the verification and introduction of their KrF photoresist products; Jingrui shares have also mass-produced g-line /i line photoresist, Nanda Optoelectronics and Shanghai Xinyang are also developing photoresist products. In addition, Xilong Science's photoresist products are in the stage of research and delivery, and are currently waiting for further feedback from potential customers.

In recent years, on the basis of increasing investment in research and development by local photoresist companies, the state has also continuously introduced policies to support industrial development. The National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology and other four departments jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Expanding Investment in Strategic Emerging Industries, Cultivating and Growing New Growth Pole Growth Pole", pointed out that it is necessary to accelerate the development of photoresist, high-purity target materials, large-size silicon wafers, and electronics. Breakthroughs have been achieved in areas such as packaging materials.

In the short term, it is difficult to achieve a qualitative breakthrough in the localization of photoresist. However, just like the car core shortage incident that began at the end of last year, automakers have become better at home-made MCU products due to the shortage of parts and the unstable international environment. Higher willingness to use.

Therefore, Tianfeng Securities believes that the development of domestic photoresist is full of opportunities. On the one hand, the downstream LCD industry is gradually shifting to the country, and various regions have increased their wafer capacity planning, and the mature process has expanded significantly, which provides the development soil and market space for domestic photoresist companies. On the other hand, photoresist has the attributes of high importance and cost insensitivity, and the supply chain has the characteristics of natural high stability. Therefore, under the trend of accelerating import substitution, some leading companies are expected to make greater breakthroughs.