Applied Materials Inc unveiled its latest chipmaking equipment with "atomic-level" precision, as the U.S. supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Intel Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. bets that demand for more powerful artificial intelligence chips will continue to grow.

Precision Challenges

According to Prabhu Raja, president of Applied Materials' Semiconductor Products Group, chip manufacturing is entering an era of unprecedented complexity, with each step of production bringing new technical challenges. Equipment manufacturers must adapt quickly to meet these evolving demands.

"When you're talking about atomic-level control, even one angstrom of precision is important. You have to replicate that precision across billions of transistors on a chip," Raja said at the SEMICON West industry conference in Phoenix this week.

One angstrom is equivalent to one-tenth of a nanometer. For example, a strand of DNA has a diameter of about 2.5 nanometers, the COVID-19 virus has a diameter of about 100 nanometers, and a grain of rice is about 5 million nanometers long.

"We need to deposit five to six materials, each one to two nanometers in size, into a 10-nanometer gap," Raja added, explaining the high level of precision currently required for advanced chip manufacturing.

Architectural Innovation

Top chipmakers including TSMC, Intel, and Samsung plan to launch 2-nanometer chip production this year and transition to a new transistor architecture called "Gate All Around" (GAA). Also known as nanosheet technology, GAA enables the construction of more complex transistor structures within extremely limited space, thereby integrating greater computing power onto each chip. The world's top chipmakers are also exploring more advanced chip packaging methods to interconnect different chip functions, further driving the need for new types of machinery.

Rajah stated that these technological challenges make the role of chip equipment manufacturers more important than ever.

The company's new suite of advanced chip manufacturing tools, designed to boost the performance of next-generation AI chips, encompasses three key areas: the industry's first integrated die-to-wafer hybrid bonding system for improved power efficiency and performance in chip packaging and advanced memory stacking; a new material deposition system to facilitate the construction of GAA transistors; and metrology tools that provide sub-nanometer imaging to aid the development and improve production quality of complex logic chips, high-bandwidth memory chips, and 3D chip stacking.

"Technology has become incredibly complex. This changes the way we work with chip equipment manufacturers," Raja said. "Clients are engaging with us very early on now."

According to Applied Materials' latest financial report, the company expects its revenue to decrease by $600 million in fiscal 2026 due to China's export restrictions. However, Applied Materials' stock price has still risen by more than 30% so far this year.

Source: Content compiled from Nikkei

Reference Link

https://asia.nikkei.com/business/tech/semiconductors/applied-materials-says-chipmaking-is-entering-the-atomic-era

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