EUV lithography technology

Korean companies have made big progress in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology.

The number of EUV lithography-related patent applications filed with the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) peaked at 88 in 2014 and reached 55 in 2018 and 50 in 2019, according to a KIPO report on patent applications in the last 10 years (2011-2020).

In particular, Korean companies have been rapidly narrowing its gap in EUV lithography technology with foreign companies. In 2019, the number of patent applications filed by Koreans stood at 40, exceeding 10 by foreigners. It was the first time that Korean-submitted patent applications surpassed those by foreigners. Korean-submitted applications more than double those of foreigners in 2020 as well.

EUV exposure technology is a complex of advanced technologies such as multi-layer mirrors, multi-layer masks, pellicles, light sources, and registries. In the past decade, global companies including Samsung Electronics conducted intense research and development to secure a technological lead. Recently, foundry companies began to use 5-nm EUV lithography to produce application processors (APs) for smartphones.

By company, six major global companies accounted for 59 percent of the total applications, 18 percent for Carl Zeiss (Germany), 15 percent for Samsung Electronics (Korea), 11 percent for ASML (the Netherlands), 8 percent for S&S Tech (Korea), 6 percent for TSMC (Taiwan), and 1 percent for SK Hynix (Korea).

By detailed technological items, applications of patents on process technology accounted for 32 percent, those on exposure device technology 31 percent, those on mask technology 28 percent mask and others 9 percent. In the field of process technology, 39 percent belonged to Samsung Electronics and 15 percent TSMC, which means that the two companies accounted for 54 percent. In the field of masks, S&S Tech took 28 percent, Hoya (Japan) 15 percent, Hanyang University (Korea) 10 percent and Asahi Glass (Japan) 10 percent and Samsung Electronics 9 percent.

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