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| SK hynix's DRAM chips made of EUV technology / Courtesy of SK hynix |
Tech giant produces chips in high-tech, cost-effective way
By Baek Byung-yeul
SK hynix has begun mass production of 10-nanometer DRAM chips using cutting-edge extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology as part of efforts to enhance its market competiveness, the company said Monday.
SK hynix the second Korean company to use EUV technology for DRAM manufacture after Samsung Electronics, which started using the method last August.
EUV technology makes it possible to draw finer circuitry that accordingly allows more data to be stored on the same surface area compared to circuits produced using non-EUV technology, such as deep ultraviolet (DUV) scanner technology.
The technology meets growing demand to make chips smaller, faster and more energy-efficient to increase profits.
The company told investors in April that it plans to produce DRAM chips using EUV technology starting in the second half of this year.
"We started mass production this month of 8-gigatibt LPDDR4 mobile DRAM based on fourth-generation 10-nanometer process technology," the Korean chipmaker said.
It expressed hope the new technology will improve productivity and further boost cost competitiveness.
"The company expects 1anm technology to lead to a 25 percent increase in the number of DRAM chips produced from the same sized wafer, compared to the previous 1znm node. SK hynix anticipates that the 1anm DRAM will also likely help alleviate the supply-and-demand conditions of the global markets following a global increase in DRAM demand," the firm said.
The 1anm is the fourth generation of the 10-nanometer process technology, a further progress of the third-generation process dubbed 1znm.
To further increase its competitiveness, the company added it plans to apply the EUV technology to next-generation chips called DDR5 DRAM starting early next year, to provide more reliable and sustained performance compared to DDR4 DRAM.
By using the EUV technology for DRAM, both Samsung and SK are moving ahead of their competitors such as Micron of the United States, which announced in June that it would apply the next-generation technology to its memory chips.
Industry analysts forecast it will take around a year and half before Micron will be able to introduce EUV technology, given that the Dutch chip equipment maker ASML, which provides EUV equipment exclusively to chipmakers, is operating at close to full capacity due to robust demand. Currently, contract-based chip makers TSMC, Samsung and SK are the main customers of ASML.
"With improved productivity and cost competitiveness, the latest 1anm DRAM will not only help secure high profitability, but also solidify SK hynix's status as a leading tech company with the early adoption of the EUV lithography technology for mass production," SK hynix Vice President Cho Young-mann said.
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