SK hynix, Toshiba to jointly develop chip tech

By Kim Yoo-chul

SK hynix agreed with Toshiba of Japan to jointly develop nano imprint lithography (NIL) technologies, the company announced Thursday.

"SK hynix has entered into an agreement with Toshiba on joint development of NIL. Engineers from the two firms will start development of core technologies for the process at Toshiba's complex in Yokohama, Japan," said SK spokeswoman Park Seong-ae in a statement.

Park said a practical implementation of it is expected to start in 2017. The announcement is the outcome of an MOU that the companies signed in December last year.

"The newly announced joint development program with Toshiba will accelerate progress towards practical use and mitigate the burden of Toshiba’s investment into NIL development," she said.

SK hynix said NIL has been recognized as one of the next generation lithography techniques for implementing high throughput patterning at low costs unlike traditional lithography methods.

The memory semiconductor industry has demonstrated and developed many process technologies including extreme ultraviolet (EUV) in order to overcome technology limitations and NIL as one of the process technologies that can achieve resolutions beyond limitations, said the SK statement.

Park said that the SK Group's semiconductor affiliate, which is also the world's second-biggest memory chipmaker, expects that this collaboration will enable the two parties to successfully develop the NIL by minimizing risk and moving up commercialization of this technology.

"Also once it is successfully commercialized, it is expected to make a significant contribution to the acceleration of cost competitiveness," said the spokeswoman.