Despite low yields and high costs, Huawei Technologies, a Shenzhen-based manufacturer of telecommunication equipment, is reportedly planning to use deep ultraviolet ( DUV) lithography machines to create 3 nanometer chips.
According to a report from American technology website Tom’s Hardware on Tuesday, Huawei and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp ( SMIC ) are working together to create 3nm chips using the patented self-aligned quadruple patterning ( SAQP ) lithography techniques. According to the content, 7nm-class process technology has 36 to 38 nm of steel pitches, while 5nm-class nodes have 30 to 32 nm of metal pitches. It predicted that 3 nm cards may have material pitches of between 21 and 24 nm.  ,
The metric used to determine the shortest distance between two vertical interconnects is steel pitch. In 2019, Intel tried to produce a 10nm device, which had material pitches of 36nm. However, the task was canceled due to low produces.  ,
According to the Tom’s Hardware article, commercial devices wo n’t be able to produce 5nm or 3nm chips because of the high costs involved. The cards can be used in supercomputers or other military equipment, according to the statement.  ,
The content was frequently quoted by Chinese media on Wednesday.  ,
In March this month, media reports said Naura Technology Group, a Shenzhen- listed company, started researching SAQP. They said SiCarrier, a Shenzhen- based state- held- organization that works with Huawei, in soon 2023 had been granted a trademark that involves SAQP.  ,
In September 2021, SiCarrier filed patents for the SAQP systems while Naura was even involved in this project.  ,
The SAQP method, which involves ball cutting, or the department of a design into two or three parts, is known as a brute-force method. Applying self-aligned double patterning ( SADP ) twice can help achieve the SAQP.  ,  ,
When and if Huawei and SMIC is mass-produce 3nm chips are unknown. Some systems columnists predicted that this purpose might take several years to reach. They added that, by the time the two firms succeed, the international markets will be using 1.4nm cards.  ,  ,
5nm chips
According to a report from the Financial Times on February 6, SMIC will construct new semiconductor manufacturing lines in Shanghai to produce laptop processors of the upcoming technology as soon as this year. It stated that the business would use existing stock of US and Dutch-made technology to produce 5nm Kirin cards. This statement was cited by Taiwan’s DigiTimes.  ,
Some Chinese media reported in March that SMIC had established a study team to promote the development of 3nm chips. But the studies have not yet been confirmed.  ,
The most cutting-edge Chinese chips are currently SMIC’s Shanghai 7nm bits.  ,
In April, Huawei launched its Pura 70 cellphone, which is powered by the agency’s Kirin 9010 program computer.  ,
TechInsights found that Kirin 9010 was made with the consequently- called N 2 method, the same way the Kirin 9000s was produced. Next August, Huawei unveiled Kirin 9000s in its Mate60 Pro telephone.
RexAA, a computer journalist who uses the pen name RexAA, claimed in an essay that Kirin 9010 works only marginally better than Kirin 9000s. Citing the Geekbench standard checks, he said Kirin 9010 achieved 4, 471 multi- core values, compared with Kirin 9000s ‘ 4, 206 scores.  ,
He said Kirin 9010’s efficiency is in between that of phone 12’s A14 device and phone 13’s A15 device, which achieved 4, 152 and 4, 498 multi- key scores, both. He claimed that the company’s four-year US sanctions have allowed it to continue producing its unique 7nm cards.  ,  ,
The US Semiconductor Industry Association ( SIA ) stated that the US and China will continue to have a larger production gap in terms of advanced chips.  ,
In a report released earlier this month, the SIA predicted that China will make only 2 % of the world’s most advanced processors ( smaller than 10nm nodes ), while the US is projected to produce 28 % of them. It said Taiwan’s share in the advanced chip markets will fall to 47 % in 2032 from 69 % in 2022.  ,
It stated that the study’s primary focus was on the effects of China’s efforts to become a computer independent and the money from the CHIP Act in the United States.  ,
Read: SMIC to promote Huawei expensive, inefficient 5nm cards
Observe Jeff Pao on Twitter at , @jeffpao3