South Korean fab equipment maker Auros Technology has won an order from a Chinese memory chip maker to supply overlay measurement equipment, TheElec has learned.
Auros Technology passed the Chinese company’s demo test late last year, sources said.
The South Korean company has begun supplying the kits earlier this year, they added. The kits are to be used in DRAM fabrication, they added.
Overlay measurement equipment is used to check whether the electronic circuit patterns are aligned correctly on the top and bottom surfaces of a wafer.
The measurement is used to correct the location of the lithography machine.
The performance of the overlay measurement equipment is imported to increase the yield rate in semiconductor production lines.
Some of the world’s top equipment makers in the sector are KLA, ASML and Auros Technology.
The South Korean fab equipment had mostly supplied its kits to local chip companies in the past but in recent years have attempted to expand abroad. It has set up subsidiaries in Silicon Valley and China for this.
It is currently in talks with multiple foreign chip companies to supply 12-inch and 8-inch overlay equipment.
China is increasing its spending in its chip industry, which will be a boon to Auros Technology. According to the Semiconductor Industry Association, China is planning US$26 billion to build 28 new fabs. The country’s memory production volume is expected to increase 40% to 50% per year in the next five years, the association said.
