China has made tremendous progress in many high-tech fields, but there is one area where our country has always found it difficult to break through, and that is high-end photolithography machines.

What we are talking about here is not ordinary photolithography machines, but those high-end ones that are controlled by a very few countries.

There are about nine countries in the world that can manufacture atomic bombs, while only two countries in the world have mastered the technology of high-end photolithography machines - the Netherlands and Japan, which is much higher than the threshold for manufacturing atomic bombs.

The complexity behind high-end photolithography machines far exceeds the understanding of ordinary people, and it can even be said that this thing is the "Mount Everest" of the technology industry.

Advertisement

Let's talk about it briefly.

First of all, the core technology of the photolithography machine is the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) technology.

The wavelength of this light is incredibly short, only 13.5 nanometers, far less than one ten-thousandth of a hair strand.

To produce this light, a high-energy laser must hit a drop of tin, instantly generating extreme ultraviolet light.

The problem is that this process is extremely difficult, and it is necessary to ensure that tens of thousands of times can be hit per second, and it must be accurate to an incredible extent.

Any slight error will make the light source unstable.

Next, let's look at the optical system.

Ordinary lenses cannot focus this extreme ultraviolet light, so people have to use mirrors.

The surface smoothness of these mirrors is required to reach the atomic level, and even a speck of dust cannot be allowed, otherwise it will affect the transmission of light.

And the manufacturing of these mirrors needs to be carried out in a dust-free room, and the entire room is cleaner than an operating room.

The production of such a mirror, just the technical requirements have kept 99% of the companies out.

Then, there is the mask, which is equivalent to the "mold" of the semiconductor chip.

This mask must be accurate to the atomic level of size, and any error will make the entire chip scrapped.

The problem is that the manufacturing of such high-precision masks requires not only top-notch technology but also extremely expensive materials.

Some people have calculated that the cost of a photolithography mask may be as high as several million US dollars.

Finally, there is another problem, the photolithography machine cannot be done by a single company.

It requires hundreds of top suppliers around the world to provide parts and technical support.

There may be more than 100,000 parts in a photolithography machine, and each part must be assembled precisely, and any slight error will make the entire equipment scrapped.

In order to manufacture a top photolithography machine, the Dutch ASML company has to cooperate with more than 500 suppliers around the world, and every link must be seamless.

This kind of globalization cooperation, once a link has a problem, the entire supply chain has to be adjusted again, so it is not easy to do photolithography machines.

Some people may ask, is the high-end photolithography machine really so important?

The answer is, too important!

The smartphones and computers we use today, even the smart chips in the refrigerators will not exist.

It can be said that the photolithography machine determines the lifeline of modern technology, and mastering it means mastering the future of technology.

First of all, we have to know where the chip comes from.

The chip is actually a bunch of tiny electronic components arranged on a silicon wafer according to certain rules.

The role of the photolithography machine is to "print" these tiny patterns on the silicon wafer.

In other words, without the photolithography machine, there would be no chip manufacturing, and without chips, all the high-tech products in our lives would be out of the question.

Let's take a look at the scale of the global chip market.

According to data from market research institutions, the scale of the global semiconductor market has exceeded 500 billion US dollars in 2022.

And the production of these chips is basically inseparable from high-end photolithography machines.

Especially those high-end chips, such as the flagship products of Apple, Huawei, Samsung and other large companies, the chips used need to be manufactured through the most advanced lithography technology.

You think, such a large market, if you master the most advanced photolithography machine technology, it can almost be said to control the lifeline of the global technology economy.

Moreover, the chip is not only used a lot in consumer electronics, but also inseparable from chips in fields such as industry, medical, and military.

For example, modern fighter jets, missiles, satellites and other high-precision military equipment, the electronic systems inside need to use the most advanced chips.

It can be said that the economic development of the country is also closely related to high-end photolithography machines.

Let's look at the suppression of our country's chip industry by the United States, blocking the export of advanced photolithography machines, and we will understand how important this thing is.

Some experts have predicted that by 2030, the global demand for advanced chips will surge, and those countries that have mastered high-end photolithography machines will become the biggest winners.

They can not only occupy a dominant position in the international market, but also be at the forefront of technological innovation.

On the contrary, those countries that do not have advanced photolithography machines may even find it difficult to maintain basic scientific and technological development.

First of all, there is a huge gap in technology.

The core technology of the extreme ultraviolet lithography machine is so difficult that it is not something that can be solved with money and resources.

You know, just the extreme ultraviolet light source, ASML has spent decades and invested tens of billions of euros to break through, and China started much later in this field, and the technical accumulation is relatively weak.

It is really difficult to reach the international leading level in a short time.

The supply chain is also a big problem.

High-end photolithography machines involve tens of thousands of parts and materials, and many of the core components, such as high-precision optical lenses, special materials, etc., need to rely on imports.

Now the global technology competition is fierce, and many key components are in the hands of others, especially the United States, Japan and other countries, which have long set up various restrictions on China.

This means that if we want to solve these components ourselves, we have to put in a lot of effort and face various technical blockades.

In addition to technology and supply chain, talent is also a big problem.

The development of photolithography machines requires top scientists, engineers, and technical personnel, and these talents cannot be cultivated overnight.

Even if domestic colleges and scientific research institutions are increasing investment and training related talents, there is still a big gap compared with the Netherlands, Japan and other old scientific and technological powers.

In fact, our country has an advantage that no other country has, that is, the ability to "concentrate efforts to do big things".

We can quickly mobilize the resources and strength of the whole country to concentrate on solving technical problems.

Look at the "two bombs and one satellite" in the past, didn't we succeed on the basis of being poor and white?

Now the country's attention to photolithography machine technology is unprecedented, and major research institutes and companies are catching up desperately.

We have every reason to believe that as long as we continue to persist, one day we will achieve a breakthrough in this field.