The Era Where "Equipment Materials" Hold the Key to Miniaturization

Driven by the explosive adoption of generative AI, the global semiconductor market exceeded $600 billion in 2024. As demand expands, the race for miniaturization accelerates, with companies fiercely competing in technological development aimed "beyond the nanometer." Amidst this, the joint research on "high-performance materials for semiconductor equipment" initiated by Lam Research, a major U.S. semiconductor manufacturing equipment maker, and Japan's National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) has garnered significant attention.

The author serves as the project leader for the Lam Research–NIMS joint research project. From this vantage point, and at the request of Yokohama-based TNP Partners, I have written this serialized column. In this article, drawing upon our initiatives, I aim to unravel the background and significance of why "equipment materials" are once again becoming crucially important in the coming era.

——Miniaturization Enters the Realm of "A Few Atoms"

For decades, the semiconductor industry has advanced "miniaturization" to shrink circuits. Currently, the mass production of 3-nanometer (nm, one-billionth of a meter) and 2-nanometer nodes has begun, pushing even further ahead. The next target is the "Angstrom (Å)" class. This is an extremely microscopic world—one-tenth of a nanometer, equivalent to the size of just a few atoms .

When dimensions shrink to this extent, the nature of the challenge shifts. Rather than just creating a new structure in a laboratory, the critical question becomes: "Can it be stably reproduced on a mass production line?"

Semiconductor manufacturing equipment for lithography, etching, deposition, and inspection forms the foundation of microfabrication . However, as dimensions shrink to a few atoms, simply improving the mechanical precision of the equipment is reaching its physical limits.

——The Key to Breakthrough: "Equipment Materials"

What becomes critical at this stage are the "key materials" exposed to the harsh environments inside the equipment. Examples include the multilayer reflective mirrors in lithography systems and the coating materials on the inner walls of etching chambers.

If a material degrades even slightly, equipment performance cannot be maintained. The first hurdle in miniaturization is often the "performance limit of materials." This is exactly why advanced equipment manufacturers have begun prioritizing materials research just as much as equipment design.

So, how do we overcome the materials barrier? "Atomic-level manufacturing" is currently drawing intense focus. It is a technology that controls the removal or addition of individual atoms to approach an ideal arrangement . However, at present, because the processing area is small and the speed is slow, it is not realistic to use it directly for wafer (semiconductor substrate) manufacturing.

——Materials → Equipment → Mass Production Process

Therefore, the approach chosen by Lam Research and NIMS is not to apply atomic-level manufacturing directly to mass production, but rather "to perform atomic-level optimization at the materials stage."

By incorporating these improved materials into existing equipment, the equipment's performance is enhanced. That effect is then amplified on a massive scale through the mass production line. It is a cascading mechanism that spreads from "Materials → Equipment → Mass Production Process."

Whether Angstrom-class manufacturing becomes a reality depends on whether mass production lines can stably reproduce these structures over extended periods. The factors determining its success or failure are the performance limits of the semiconductor equipment and its key materials.

In future installments, I will explain how atomic-level manufacturing will evolve the manufacturing process, introducing specific materials and case studies.

(This series is supported by TNP Partners in Yokohama)