Semes, a semiconductor equipment corporation, announced on the 7th that it has developed the next-generation fluorokrypton (KrF) spinner, an equipment for the semiconductor photolithography process, and has passed quality testing.
The spinner is equipment that evenly applies photosensitive resin to a wafer to form microcircuits (patterns) in the semiconductor manufacturing process, exposes it to light in a lithography machine, and then performs development again.
Currently, Japanese semiconductor equipment corporations hold over 90% market share, effectively monopolizing the market, and Semes is the only domestic corporation.
The lithography technology that engraves circuits on semiconductors is divided into fluorokrypton (KrF), fluorine argon (ArF), and extreme ultraviolet (EUV).
Semes has been producing KrF spinners and fluorine argon immersion (ArF-i) equipment, and the newly developed next-generation KrF spinner Omega Prime is capable of responding to the WLPAD (Word Line Pad) process, as well as having improved wafer processing capability by over 20% per hour, thereby increasing productivity, the company explained.
The fluorokrypton (KrF) spinner equipment is a high-purity, high-productivity, and high-precision 3-high equipment, expected to significantly improve process variation through the application of automatic calibration and automation systems, thus contributing to yield and performance enhancement.
Photo team leader Jang Se-yeon noted, "The development of Omega Prime is expected to have a significant effect on import substitution in the future."
This corporation, the first in the domestic equipment industry to surpass sales of 3 trillion won, has developed spinner equipment for the photolithography process, one of the three core processes in semiconductor manufacturing, and has won the IR52 Jang Young-sil Award three times, holding more than 1,000 patents for photolithography equipment domestically and internationally.