The original draft explicitly included cryogenic etching equipment as a separate type of etching equipment requiring specific export controls. Cryogenic etching tools are designed for high-aspect-ratio, extremely smooth silicon etching, where sidewall roughness must be minimized. Such tools are used primarily in front-end semiconductor fabrication to create high-precision silicon features, such as advanced transistor structures (e.g., FinFET/GAA) and specialized MEMS. In addition, they are also used in R&D environments where ultra-smooth, high-aspect-ratio silicon etching is required.
You may like U.S. lawmakers aim to ban export of DUV chipmaking and etching tools to leading firms in China U.S. lawmakers demand sales ban on chipmaking tools to China Chinese fabs import record volumes of US chipmaking equipment via Singapore and Malaysia The current U.S. export controls require an export license to ship tools used to build logic chips on 14nm/16nm-class process technologies that use FinFET transistors, so cryogenic etching tools have been covered by American export rules since 2021. The existing export controls curbed sales of advanced tools to select fabs, potentially allowing Chinese chipmakers to obtain such tools for their outdated fabs. The MATCH Act proposes to curb shipments of such equipment to actual companies (thus, plugging the loophole that allowed adversaries to circumvent existing rules), so the blanket ban on selling cryogenic etching tools to countries of concern was excessive.
Reuters reports that the latest version of the bill upholds restrictions on sales of advanced wafer fabrication equipment by U.S. and foreign companies to certain Chinese semiconductor manufacturers, including ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC), and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC). The bill also maintains requirements for licenses to service equipment at covered facilities. However, the updated version no longer applies a blanket presumption that such licenses will be denied, which should ease one of the more contentious elements for ASML and Tokyo Electron.
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Key considerations
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- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/semiconductors/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/semiconductors/us-lawmakers-amend-new-restrictions-on-chinese-chipmakers-match-acts-blanket-restrictions-removed-from-select-chipmaking-tools#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
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