How to judge the merits and demerits of semiconductor technology, and how is the technology in China

Judging the merits and demerits of semiconductor technology mainly from the following aspects:

1. Process technology Process technology is the core of semiconductor technology, which is usually described in nanometer units. The more advanced the process, the better the performance of the chip and the lower the power consumption. For example, 5 nanometer technology is superior to 7 nanometer technology.

2. Integration Integrate level indicates the number of transistors integrated on a chip. The higher the integration level, the more powerful the chip function will be.

3. Power consumption and performance Excellent chip not only needs high performance, but also needs low power consumption. Especially in mobile devices, power consumption is a key parameter.

4. Stability and reliability Semiconductor products must maintain stable and reliable performance under various working conditions, which is related to the safety and life of equipment.

5. Production cost The commercialization of technology needs to consider the production cost. Even if a technology is advanced, if the production cost is too high, it will be difficult to apply it on a large scale.

With regard to semiconductor technology in China, remarkable progress has been made in recent years. In the middle-end and low-end application field, China already has it International competitiveness. Especially in the field of chip design, many domestic enterprises such as HUAWEI and TSINGHUA UNIGROUP have their own high-performance products. However, there is still exist gap in advanced process technology, especially in the process of 7 nm and below. However, through continuous R&D investment and policy support, China is catching up and preparing for its future technological leadership.

Criteria for judging semiconductor technology

Advancement of process technology

Process technology refers to the technology used in semiconductor manufacturing. This is usually related to the node size (such as 5nm, 7nm and 10nm). The advanced process technology determines the performance, power consumption and cost of the chip. The smaller the process, the higher the integration, which usually means higher performance and lower power consumption. For example, the technology of 5nm process can achieve higher transistor density and better performance compared with 10nm process.

Integration (e.g. 10nm, 7nm, 5nm)

Density of integration reflects how many transistors can be integrated on a chip. With the development of technology, the integration level gradually increases, which means that more transistors can be integrated on chips of the same size. High integration can provide higher computing performance while consuming less energy under the same workload.

Energy efficiency ratio and performance

Energy efficiency ratio is an important index to evaluate the performance of semiconductor products. It reflects the calculation tasks that can be completed under unit energy consumption. Excellent semiconductor design should not only pursue high performance, but also consider low energy consumption. ARM-based processors have been widely used in mobile devices because of their excellent energy efficiency ratio.

Technology Maturity and Reliability

Technology maturity and reliability are the other two key factors to evaluate semiconductor technology. Technology maturity means that the technology has been fully verified and optimized, and can run stably in large-scale production. Reliability is closely related to product life, fault tolerance rate and stability.

Production cost and economy

For commercial applications, the economy of technology is also very important. The choice of process technology, the cost of materials and the complexity of production process all directly affect the production cost of products. Only under the premise of controllable cost can advanced semiconductor technology succeed in the market.

When judging semiconductor technology, these criteria should be seriously considered. Different application scenarios may pay more attention to certain indicators, but on the whole, these standards provide us with a comprehensive framework for evaluating semiconductor technology.

Present situation of semiconductor technology in China

Introduction of Major Semiconductor Enterprises in China

In the past few years, China has emerged in the semiconductor industry chain. Many enterprises invest heavily, strengthen research and development, and pursue technological breakthroughs.

• SMIC As the leading semiconductor manufacturing company in China, SMIC provides integrated circuit manufacturing services to customers worldwide. In terms of technology research and development, SMIC has also made a lot of progress and gradually narrowed the gap with the international advanced level.

• HUAWEIHISILICON chip design subsidiary of HUAWEEI is mainly responsible for designing high-end mobile chips. Despite various challenges, HISILICON has become one of the major participants in the mobile chip market through independent research and development.

• TSINGHUA UNIGROUPAs another giant in China, TSINGHUAUNIGROUP covers many links in the semiconductor industry chain, from chip design to package testing.

• Our country is in global semiconductor status of industry

In recent years, China's position in the global semiconductor industry has gradually improvement. First of all, China is the largest semiconductor market in the world, consuming a large number of chips. Secondly, through investment and cooperation, China's technical level is also improving rapidly. But at the same time, we still need to face the challenges of technology blockade and international competition. In the fields of manufacturing, packaging and testing, China has reached the international advanced level, but there is still a certain gap in chip design and high-end process technology.

Main technical challenges and development direction

Although China has made great progress in the field of semiconductors, it still faces some technical challenges:

• Research and development of process technology High-end process technology is still a shortcoming in the semiconductor field in China, such as the research and development and commercialization of technologies below 5nm.

• Materials and Equipment High-purity semiconductor materials and key production equipment still depend on imports, which affects the overall R&D speed and the integrity of the industrial chain.

• Design ability In some high-end application scenarios, such as servers, high-performance computing and other fields, there is still a gap between domestic chip design and international advanced level.

• In the development direction, in addition to strengthening technology research and development and improving independent innovation capability, it is necessary to strengthen international cooperation, seek technical cooperation and talent exchange, break the technology blockade and jointly promote the development of the global semiconductor industry.

Semiconductor technology future trends and prospects

From Si to New Semiconductor Materials

Although silicon (Si) is still the mainstream semiconductor material at present, with the development of technology and the growth of performance requirements, people began to study other possible semiconductor materials, such as gallium nitrogen (GaN), carbon nanotubes and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2). These new semiconductor materials show unique advantages in electronic and optical properties, such as low energy consumption, high speed and the ability to adapt to more severe environments. For future high-performance and low-power devices, such as next-generation wireless communication and quantum computing, these new semiconductor materials may become the key.

Advance towards three-dimensional integration

With the development of technology, traditional planar integrated circuits gradually encounter physical limitations, which leads to the slowdown of their performance improvement and power consumption reduction. Three-dimensional integrated circuit (3D IC) technology can stack multiple layers of circuits in the vertical direction, thus achieving higher integration and performance in a limited space. This technology is helpful to further improve the computing power and storage density of the chip, while reducing energy consumption.

System-level packaging technology

System-in-Package (SiP) is a technology that integrates multiple functional modules into one package. Compared with traditional single chip package, SiP can integrate multiple chips in a single package, such as processor, memory, RF module, etc., thus realizing smaller and more efficient solutions.

Edge Computing and AI Acceleration

With the rapid development of Internet of Things, 5G and AI, data processing and analysis are increasingly transferred to the place where data is generated, that is, the edge of devices. This leads to an increased demand for edge computing and dedicated AI accelerator chips. Future semiconductor technologies need to be optimized for these specific applications to provide low power consumption, high performance and real-time processing capabilities.

Hardware security and credibility

With the wide application of semiconductor technology in critical infrastructure and sensitive fields, such as cloud computing, finance and national defense, the security and credibility of hardware become more and more important. Future semiconductor technology will require stronger security functions, including resisting physical attacks, preventing side channel attacks and ensuring data privacy.

Considering the above trends, the future of semiconductor technology will be diversified and highly specialized, and continuous innovation and breakthrough are needed to meet the increasing application demand.

Global Semiconductor Industry Chain and China's Opportunities and Challenges

Global industrial chain Overview

Semiconductor industry chain includes raw material procurement, chip design, manufacturing, packaging and testing, and finally equipment integration and application. The main participants include raw material suppliers, IP and EDA tool providers, chip design companies, foundries, packaging and testing companies, equipment and material suppliers, etc.

China's position in the global industrial chain

• Raw materials and equipment China still relies on imports for high-purity semiconductor materials and critical manufacturing equipment, especially those used in high-end process technology.

• Chip design In low-end applications, such as consumer electronics and mobile communications, China's chip design capability has reached International advanced level. However, in high-end fields, such as high-performance computing and servers, there is still a certain gap.

• Manufacture China has made great progress in the production scale of low-end process technology, but it still lags behind in high-end process, such as 5nm and below.

• Packaging test China's packaging testing capability has reached the international advanced level, and in some fields, such as RF packaging, has reached the leading position.

• Terminal application China is the largest electronic equipment market in the world. From smart phones to PCs, from servers to Internet of Things devices, the market demand is huge.

• Opportunity

• Huge market demand As the largest consumer market in the world, China's market demand provides great opportunities for domestic enterprises to help them grow rapidly and optimize their technology.

• Policy supports The Chinese government has provided a large amount of funds and policy support to promote the development of semiconductor industry, which provides guarantee for the R&D and capacity expansion of enterprises.

• Global cooperation Cooperate with international technology giants can help domestic enterprises to rapidly improve their technology level and market share.

• Challenge

• Technology blockade In the field of high-end technology, especially key equipment and materials, China still faces foreign technology blockade.

• Talent shortage Although China has trained a large number of engineers and scientists, it still faces the problem of talent shortage in the field of high-end technology research and development, especially chip design.

• The technical iteration speed is fast With the rapid progress of technology, China needs to continuously invest in research and development in order to keep up with the iterative speed of technology.

• Faced with these opportunities and challenges, China needs to have a clear strategic plan, strengthen independent research and development, and actively seek international cooperation to ensure a more important position in the global semiconductor industry chain.

How to judge the merits and demerits of semiconductor technology and how is China's technology-China.exportsemi.com