South Korean suppliers have developed a EUV pellicle with 90% transmittance. All aspects of the product have reached a level where mass production can begin at any moment. It's just one step away from entering commercial use, only awaiting the go-ahead from Samsung Electronics.
According to a report from Korea's The Elec, South Korea-based S&S Tech and FST have been cooperating with the EUV process to expand the introduction and active R&D of pellicles. S&S Tech has developed a product with 91% transmittance, and FST has also developed a pellicle with nearly 90% transmittance. The two manufacturers have already confirmed their products' durability during the lab test phase.
Samsung has invested in S&S Tech and FST in 2020 and 2021 respectively. It obtained an 8% share in S&S Tech for KRW65.8 billion (approx. US$49.79 million) and a 6.9% share in FST for KRW43 billion to promote pellicle self-production in South Korea.
With the support of Samsung, both companies successfully developed their products in two years. However, Samsung declined to say anything about the commercial use timeline. Samsung clearly needs to introduce EUV pellicle, so its leisurely attitude came as a surprise to the South Korean industry.
According to sources, Samsung is concerned that the high power energy output of the EUV process will break the pellicle, causing EUV equipment failure. This will halt operation and may take days or even weeks to clean up. In addition to cleanup costs, production capacity will also be affected due to production interruption.
In other words, S&S Tech and FST need to actually put their products into Samsung's EUV process to determine the risk of the pellicle breaking and come up with measures to prevent the issues from occurring. However, Samsung is worried about production line interruptions and is therefore unwilling to take the risk of testing the pellicle.
South Korean industry sources stated that to improve the productivity of the EUV process, the pellicle is required. Although tests inevitably involve risk, the only place that can run these tests in South Korea is Samsung. TSMC has had to go through many practical tests on the production line before it could come up with the guidelines it relies on now.
The industry has no spare time to test when the market is booming. Right now, the semiconductor market is in a recession with suppliers reducing production or lowering their production line availability. Industry sources in South Korea believe that now is a good time to accumulate test data for the EUV pellicle. Samsung needs to conduct the test for South Korea's EUV ecosystem to take root.
