Chinese chip manufacturers gradually change part of their production to tools produced in China to support the local Equipment ecosystem and reduce rely on tools produced abroad. China already has several well -known tool manufacturers for the squares who specialize in one or two types of equipment that has set sales records in 2024. However, Sicon China is a little -known company from Huawei and re -published by SI Carrier Technologies 李六.
Sicarrier Technologies is a startup widely discussed in this year’s Semicon China, but is little known outside the People’s Republic. The company is closely related to Huawei and was founded four years ago in Shenzhen to develop world-class FAB tools that would compete with Front-End production equipment, made by ASML market leaders, Applied Materials, KLA and LAM, according to KLA and LAM research, according to KLA and LAM research, Nikkei. The main investor of Sicarrier is Shenzhen Major Investment Group, a fund supported by the government supporting other projects related to Huawei, including the technology of integrated circuits and technology of Swayure Pengxinwei.
Sicarrier is currently running research and development centers in Shanghai, Beijing, Xi’an, Wuhan, Chengdu, Hangzhou and abroad. Its comprehensive development chain includes materials, components and full systems. To support rapid development, the company aggressively recruits older engineers from the best global companies, such as ASML and used materials.
The Sicarrier catalog presented in Semicon China includes a wide range of equipment for the production of semiconductors, metrological tools and inspection systems. The catalog does not contain any lithographic tools (maybe to keep its lithographic progress in secret), but Nikkei reports that the company already has Litho tools that can process 300 mm wafers in process and older technologies. Even without lithographic machines, the company mentions dozens of tools that can take the enormous majority of steps in the front-end of the semiconductors. The company also has metrology, control and testing tools.
On the process of the process, the catalog includes tools used to embed the atomic layer (ALD) for dielectrics and metal gates, chemical steam deposit (CVD), physical steam deposit (PVD) of foil deposition and postponing metal contact, epitaxia, digestion and enealing. The catalog does not clearly characterize tools and their capabilities in terms of actual manufacturing processes, but often refers to “advanced process nodes” as well as “future advanced nodes”.
On the front of the metrology and inspection, the catalog includes tools for optical control of both patterned and unnoticed fluid, microscopy of atomic force to control morphology in nanoscal resolution and advanced measuring systems for a lean layer thickness, composition of the element and crystallinity.
Finally, Sicarrier also has various testing machines, including tiles electrical performance tests, known good matrix tests and functional tests. However, these tools are currently directed mainly to the semiconductors of the power.
For now, it is not clear whether all tools that Sicarrier lists can be ordered and acquired. It is also not clear whether these machines are compatible with existing production flows, which are based on machines with ASML, Applied, Kla, Lam, Tel and others.
However, Nikkei claims that Sicarrier has worked closely with Huawei, who gathered a huge internal team focused on the production and equipment of semiconductors, and that they are working on improving the implementation of the process and identifying technical challenges in various production lines. This may mean that Sicarrier and Huawei intend to build tools for the “reserved” production flow covering only Chinese tools. If so, it may take many years before the first FAB with such flow appears online. Nevertheless, taking into account the current Sicarrier’s tempo, this can impress the industry.
