China's KrF/I-Line Lithography Machines Achieve Commercial Mass Production Milestone

China's Domestic KrF/I-Line Lithography Machines Reach Commercial Mass Production

At the ninth China International Import Expo (CIIE) held in Shanghai from November 5–10, 2026, Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment (SMEE) exhibited cross-section models of its next-generation front-end dry scanning projection lithography tools: the SSC800 (KrF 248 nm) and the SSB800 (I-line 365 nm) .

Machine Specifications and Target Nodes

SSC800 (KrF 248 nm) : Targets 110 nm and above process nodes. Suited for DRAM/NAND memory, AI high-performance computing chips, microprocessors, and MicroLED front-end manufacturing. Equipped with a domestically produced large-NA projection lens and a self-developed high-speed dual wafer stage, with focused optimization of exposure accuracy, distortion control, and overlay metrics. Overall performance places it in the first tier of global KrF tools.

SSB800 (I-line 365 nm) : Targets 280 nm and above mature processes. Emphasizes high throughput and strong process compatibility. Mainly used for power semiconductors, analog chips, and MEMS devices, covering extensive industrial and automotive semiconductor production lines.

Platform Architecture and Localization

Both tools belong to a dry lithography platform and do not involve EUV or ArF immersion lithography. The platform achieves full-stack domestic development of core modules: projection optics, dual wafer stage / mask stage, material handling, and alignment/leveling sensors. The localization rate of key components exceeds 90% .

Performance and Deployment Track Record

Imaging performance benchmarks against international peers. Overlay accuracy and production-line throughput are continuously closing the gap with overseas flagship products. The equipment has been running long-term in domestic leading logic and memory production lines, with cumulative wafer runs exceeding 10 million and an effective equipment operating rate greater than 92% .

Industrial Significance

Commercial mass-production milestone : Marks the transition of domestic KrF and I-line front-end lithography from prototype to volume manufacturing, filling the supply gap for mature-process front-end lithography tools. This is critical for supply-chain security of memory chips, power semiconductors, and analog ICs.

Core-component breakthroughs : Domestic realization of high-difficulty components such as the wafer stage and projection optics accumulates engineering and supply-chain experience for future higher-end lithography tools.

Objective Boundaries and Limitations

Not EUV or ArF immersion : The SSC800/SSB800 are KrF and I-line dry tools aimed at mature/near-advanced nodes. They cannot be used for 7/14 nm advanced logic chip manufacturing.

Ongoing optimization gap : While overlay accuracy and whole-machine throughput have caught up, there remains room for further iteration compared with overseas leading products of the same generation.

Ecosystem dependency : Lithography is only one step in chip fabrication. Yield also depends on the coordinated performance of photoresist, masks, etch, thin-film deposition, metrology, and other equipment and materials.

Conclusion

The SSC800 and SSB800 models displayed at CIIE represent a stage milestone in the commercial mass production of China's KrF/I-line front-end lithography equipment , underpinning the development of domestic memory, power semiconductor, and analog chip industries. However, ArF immersion and EUV lithography tools required for advanced logic remain uncharted technical high ground. Lithography equipment localization continues to be a long-cycle, multi-link systemic engineering endeavor.