[Product/Solution] High-purity synthetic fused quartz glass for EUV

1. Brief introduction of the achievement

This achievement overcomes the "bottleneck" problem of core materials for lithography machines. Through independently developed vertical deposition technology, groove sink homogenization process and nano-precision processing methods, high-purity synthetic fused quartz glass is localized.

The core breakthroughs include:

(1) Material performance: optical uniformity ≤2×10⁻⁶, stress birefringence ≤2nm/cm, metal impurities <500ppb, ultraviolet transmittance ≥99.5% (@248nm), close to the level of international giants (Heraeus, Germany/Corning, USA).

(2) Process innovation: Adopting the original single-lamp CVD synthesis technology, optimizing the groove sink annealing temperature control system, and improving material uniformity; integrating and applying ultra-precision processing equipment such as milling, fine carving, grinding, high polishing, and fine polishing, as well as high-precision detection equipment such as digital interferometers, to achieve nano-level convergence of blank surface error in the full frequency band.

(3) Engineering application: The product has been verified by downstream photolithography machine manufacturers and has the capacity to produce 10 sets of blanks per year, and has been extended to quartz swing plates, high-power laser optical windows, interferometer standard mirrors and other fields.

2. Application fields

This product uses independently developed synthesis technology, thermal modification technology, and ultra-precision processing technology to make the optical uniformity, stress birefringence, surface accuracy and other parameter indicators of fused quartz glass reach the level of foreign photolithography, and can be used in photolithography machine exposure systems to achieve domestic substitution. In addition, it is also widely used in aerospace, semiconductors, integrated circuits, precision optics, weapons and equipment and other industries such as quartz swing plates, high-power laser optical systems, and interferometer standard crystals.

3. Market prospects

The market prospects for high-end fused quartz products are very broad. In 2023, the market size of China's optical quartz glass sheets will reach 18.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.7%, and is expected to expand to 24 billion yuan in 2025. Photolithography-grade fused quartz material is the core optical material of the photolithography machine exposure system. It is mainly used in the lighting system and objective lens system. Its performance directly affects the photolithography imaging performance. At present, domestic and foreign lithography machine manufacturers generally use foreign high-purity synthetic fused quartz materials as their exposure system optical materials. In 2023, the demand for lithography machines in my country will increase to 727 units, and the market size will increase to 16.087 billion yuan. Taking the DUV lithography machine as an example, the number of various lenses in its projection objective lens exceeds 20, and the optical system with fused quartz as the main material accounts for 25% of the total cost of the lithography machine exposure system. In addition, it is also widely used in aerospace, semiconductors, integrated circuits, precision optics, weapons and equipment and other industries. It can be seen that lithography-grade fused quartz materials have great potential and broad market space in the future.

4. Intellectual Property

12 invention patents have been obtained, of which 7 have been authorized and 5 are under review. 6 utility model patents have been authorized, all of which are held by the achievement units alone.

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