Korea's First 12-Inch Semiconductor Testbed Established... Boosting Self-Reliance in 'SoBuJang'

Ministry of Science and ICT to Launch Service from the 17th at Nano Convergence Technology Institute

A 12-inch semiconductor testbed established by the Ministry of Science and ICT at the Nano Convergence Technology Institute. Photo by Nano Convergence Technology Institute.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] For the first time in Korea, a 12-inch semiconductor testbed has been established and will be provided to industries, research institutes, and universities.

On the 16th, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced that it has completed the establishment of a 12-inch semiconductor testbed at the Korea Nano Technology Institute (KNTI) and will start services from the 17th.

Companies producing semiconductor materials, parts, and equipment in Korea have faced difficulties obtaining evaluation results at the level required for supply due to the absence of a 12-inch testbed similar to the production environment of large corporations. Most small and medium-sized enterprises had no choice but to use overseas testbeds at great cost and time or to be satisfied with basic evaluations using existing 8-inch equipment at KNTI.

However, it was impossible to evaluate the completeness of materials uniformity and defects on 12-inch wafers, as required by semiconductor giants such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, within Korea.

To resolve this, the Ministry of Science and ICT designated KNTI as the operating institution for the 12-inch semiconductor materials, parts, and equipment testbed in August 2019, completed the establishment of clean rooms and core equipment, stabilized the equipment, and began services. A total of 45 billion KRW of national funds were invested to build 10 core pieces of equipment and complete process technology development.

Accordingly, domestic semiconductor materials, parts, and equipment companies can now quickly receive support for performance testing of core semiconductor materials by utilizing KNTI’s 12-inch testbed. This will drastically reduce the time and cost required for technological independence.

The 12-inch testbed is an infrastructure capable of producing 40nm pattern wafers and will focus on supporting the development of core semiconductor materials (such as photoresists) and equipment. The Ministry of Science and ICT also plans to promote the establishment of additional equipment and process technology development to support the production of 20nm-class pattern wafers and parts testing in the future.

Kim Bong-su, Director of Basic and Fundamental Research Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, “We will continue efforts such as expanding investment and enhancing functions to provide high-level infrastructure support alongside basic and fundamental research support for the advancement of the semiconductor field.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.