A review of integrated circuit research
(Tu Xiwen)
Abstract: Integrated circuit (IC) is one of the important inventions of the twentieth century. It is widely used in all fields of the national economy and society, and its development scale and technological level have become one of the important symbols for measuring national status and comprehensive national strength. The IC industry is a knowledge-intensive, technology-intensive and capital-intensive industry. The world's integrated circuit industry is developing extremely rapidly, and technological progress is changing with each passing day. As a key technology that promotes the informatization of the national economy and society, IC technology is related to national industrial competitiveness and national information security. Although China's IC industry is currently not developed in terms of either quality or quantity, with the tide of global industries moving eastward, China's economy has been growing steadily, with a huge domestic demand market, abundant talents of all types, and abundant natural resources. , it can be said that the development of China's integrated circuit industry has taken advantage of the right time, location, and people, and will emerge as a new world IC manufacturing center. During the research process, this article reviewed the development history of integrated circuits, investigated the current status and future plans of the major countries and regions in the world's IC industry, and conducted an in-depth analysis based on the development status of my country's IC industry. This article intends to Let's discuss the revitalization path of China's IC together. This article is divided into six chapters. Chapter 1, introduction, analyzes the background of the research and the significance of this study. Chapter 2, International Comparison of the Integrated Circuit Industry, reviews the development of integrated circuits, focusing on the development history of integrated circuits in the United States, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, and in-depth analysis of the reasons why they can lead the world. . Chapter 3 mainly introduces the development history of my country's integrated circuits, and based on a large amount of data analysis, it deeply analyzes the development history, current situation, and existing problems of my country's integrated circuits, and predicts the development trend of my country's integrated circuits. Chapter 4 puts forward the strategic guiding ideas and principles for building my country's integrated circuit independent innovation strategy. Chapter 5 studies the countermeasures and measures for my country’s integrated circuit independent innovation strategy. Chapter six, summary and outlook of the full text. Synthesize and integrate the relevant conclusions of previous chapters and draw some comprehensive conclusion points. Research on the development of integrated circuits is a new topic. Although this article has done some research, there are still deficiencies. Many important issues still need more in-depth research and thinking in the future.
Keywords: Integrated circuits Integrated circuit industry status quo and trends Countermeasures
Integrated circuits are based on semiconductor materials and are processed and manufactured to integrate vitality, active devices and five-wire A microcircuit that performs some electronic function within, on, or on a substrate. Since the 1950s, integrated circuit manufacturing technology has experienced small-scale integration (SSI), medium-scale integration (MSI), large-scale integration (LSI), and even entered very large-scale integration (VLSI) and very large-scale integration (Ultra Large Scale Integration). Scale Integration, ULSI) stage. Especially in the past 30 years, the development of integrated circuits has almost completely followed Moore's Law, that is, the integration level of integrated circuits has doubled every 18 months. In the 1990s and after the 21st century, its design scale has developed from VLSI and ULSI to Giga-Scale Integration (GSI). As a result, more and more functions, even a complete system, can integrated into a single chip. Electronic system design has entered the era of System on Chip (SoC) from System on Board (SoB) and Multi-Chip Modules (MCM). The rapid development of integrated circuits reflects the following characteristics: feature sizes are getting smaller and smaller, chip areas are getting larger and larger, the number of transistors on a single chip is getting larger and larger, clock frequencies are getting higher and higher, power supply voltages are getting lower and lower, wiring There are more and more layers, and more and more I/O leads. The U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association SIA organization gave the development trend of U.S. integrated circuit technology from 1997 to 2009.
As the level of integration increases, the number of transistors inside the chip increases, and the complexity of integrated circuit design becomes higher and higher. Traditional manual design and small-scale design models are no longer applicable. In order to design complex large-scale integrated circuits, people increasingly rely on electronic design automation (EDA) tools. With the rapid development of science and technology and the increasing application requirements for digital circuits, the development of integrated circuits will play a decisive role in promoting the legal development of society.
Chapter 1 Background and Significance of the Research
With the rapid development of global IC, there are more and more studies on IC, and the impact of direct investment by multinational companies on the market structure of the host country. It has become one of the important frontier areas of international investment research. The impact of foreign direct investment on the host country's market structure depends to a large extent on the choice of foreign investment entry method. Different entry methods have different impacts on the market structure of the host country, and the distribution of benefits between multinational companies and local enterprises in the host country is also different. Multinational companies have entered China's integrated circuit industry one after another, investing in and building factories, making full use of local resource advantages. When local companies and multinational companies coexist, local companies face development opportunities and challenges. The changes in the IC industry in the new century have brought opportunities for the rise of China's IC industry. If we can seize this favorable opportunity, China will not only become an emerging region in the IC industry, but also become a world IC power. At a time when the world's IC industry is undergoing sudden changes, China's relatively weak IC industry contains opportunities for potential growth.
Chapter 2 International Comparison of the Integrated Circuit Industry
The United States started the MOSIS project in 1981 by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). In addition to providing multi-project wafer (MPW) services, the plan also formulates a set of manufacturer-independent design rules and component libraries. Designs that comply with MOSIS rules will be produced by all manufacturers that support MOSIS rules. The National Security Agency (MOSA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) have been involved in the program since 1985. Manufacturers supporting the plan include IBM, AMI, Agilent, HP, TSMC, SUPERTEX, PEREGRINE, etc., which can already support the design and manufacturing of 0.13 micron. Due to the effectiveness of the MOSIS program, other countries have followed suit.
Europe has been tracking the US MOSIS plan. EURO PRACTICE initiated by the European Union is an integrated circuit organization similar to MOSIS in the United States for the industry. It has 61 organizations in 11 countries including Germany, Belgium, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Ireland. Manufacturing, design, and training facilities provide a variety of unified standard services including multi-project wafers.
Korea's IDEC (IC DESIGN EDUCATIN CENTER) is a support organization established in 1995 by the Korean government and the major semiconductor industry to cultivate talents.
my country only has the National Chip Design Center in Taiwan Province (established in 1991). Its purpose is "to improve the level of basic research, it is recommended to establish an integrated circuit design service unit similar to that of MOSIS in the United States to provide microelectronic system designers with more convenient IC manufacturing services; and to promote IC design concepts to information, communications, consumer electronics, and precision machinery." , industries and research and development units in the fields of automation, aerospace, optoelectronics and other fields. ”
In addition, there are many international studies and experimental implementations of CPUs, but very few can actually be produced. Complete hardware descriptions of mainstream architectures are emerging. The European Space Agency (ESA) has published the complete HDL (VHDL, VERL LOG) description of SPARCV7 and SPARCV8. However, the key to the design and implementation of high-speed CPUs is to focus on the integrated circuit layout. For example, the ALPHA processor of the American DEC Company implemented the 64-bit processor 21064 with a 0.75 micron process in 1992 and reached a clock of 200 MHz. Frequencies, later implemented in the 21164 in 0.5 and 0.35 micron processes, achieved clock frequencies of 300 and 433 MHz respectively.
China lags far behind. The fundamental reasons why our country lags behind other countries are: First, the lack of independent intellectual property rights. After setting up integrated circuit packaging and testing factories in Shanghai and Chengdu, Intel Corporation announced that it will invest US$2.5 billion to establish the company in Dalian. Asia’s first 300mm wafer factory makes Intel the second foreign semiconductor giant with a complete industrial chain in China after the French STM company; second, it lags behind the overall level. “From the current situation, our country The overall design capabilities of integrated circuits have improved rapidly. Loongson and Zhongzhi are all chip products independently designed by China with independent intellectual property rights," said Liao Xiaohan, deputy director of the High-tech Development and Industrialization Department of the Ministry of Science and Technology. "Looking" News Weekly said in an interview that my country's mainstream chip design is still several years behind the United States. "These few years mean a lot of difference, because in the IT industry, product design is calculated in months." "Liao Xiaohan believes that integrated circuit design is an intellectual issue. As long as we have excellent talents and a good team, we can close the distance with advanced countries. At the same time, we also have a certain scale of chip production capacity. However, it will take a long time to form a large-scale integrated circuit equipment manufacturing industry. Unlike the production of atomic bombs, the industrialization of integrated circuits covers a wide range of areas, and its development reflects a country's industrialization level to a large extent. Generally speaking, after years of development, my country's integrated circuit industry has initially formed a development pattern in which the design industry, chip manufacturing industry, and packaging and testing industry develop simultaneously and coordinate with each other. However, the industry scale is small, the industrial chain is imperfect, and the equipment manufacturing industry It needs to be gradually established.
Since high-end chip manufacturing technology and equipment are related to the competitiveness of the country's overall economy and national strategy, our country has never given up its efforts to develop the computer chip industry. The "863" plan and major national science and technology projects All include integrated circuit design. We are catching up, but others are making faster progress. Overall, my country's integrated circuit industry is still relatively lagging behind. The bottleneck affecting industrial development is the country's low level of industrialization.
Li Ke, a senior analyst at the CCID Consulting Semiconductor Industry Research Center affiliated to the China Electronic Information Industry Development Research Institute (CCID Group) of the Ministry of Information Industry, analyzed the development status of my country's integrated circuit industry from another perspective. Li Ke said that according to Moore's Law, semiconductor technology will advance one generation in 18 months. Currently, 45-nanometer technology is the most advanced, followed by 65-nanometer technology. 90-nanometer technology is the current international mainstream technology and is also leading domestically. From the perspective of technical level, my country's integrated circuits have developed extremely rapidly in the past five years. There is a gap of about five years between the domestic leading technology and the international level. The problem is that the overall level is very different.
96% of the equipment required for integrated circuit production needs to be imported, and more than half of the raw materials need to be imported. For example, the domestic production process for the gold wire required in the packaging process cannot meet the requirements, and high-purity gases, reagents, etc. need to be purchased from abroad. "It's not that we can't make these things, the trouble is that the craftsmanship and quality cannot be guaranteed." Li Ke emphasized.
Zhang Xiaoqiang, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, pointed out that this project is one of the largest economic cooperation projects between China and the United States in recent years. It will have a positive impact on the development of China’s information industry and will promote talent development and improve In terms of infrastructure and industrial supply chain, comprehensively improving China's position in the global high-tech industry value chain is of positive significance to the regional economy and integrated circuit industry development of Northeast China's old industrial base.
“But the government must have a clear understanding of this. No matter what kind of enterprise comes to build factories in China, it cannot replace independent development and independent innovation. Only we ourselves can continue to innovate and develop, and continue to learn and accumulate. Only with your own strength will you have more development opportunities and more say," Wei Shaojun, a professor at Tsinghua University interviewed by "Lookout" News Weekly, emphasized.
Chapter 2 The Development of my country's Integrated Circuits
In 2008, the scale of China's integrated circuit chip manufacturing industry fell by 1.3% from the previous year, and its decline was even greater than the overall decline of China's integrated circuit industry. amplitude.
It can be seen from the statistics of previous years that China's integrated circuit chip manufacturing industry grew by 23% in 2007 and 32.5% in 2006. The huge contrast is enough to illustrate the difficulties faced by the chip manufacturing industry. Compared with the sharp decline in the semiconductor industry caused by the bursting of the Internet bubble in 2001, although the decline in the global semiconductor industry in 2008 was not as great as that year, it affected a wider range of industries and its duration is difficult to predict. Affected by the international financial crisis, the national market sales in 2008 were 597.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.2%. This was the first time that China's integrated circuit market experienced single-digit growth. Data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows that in the fourth quarter of 2008, many domestic integrated circuit industry factory orders decreased by more than 10%, and the capacity utilization rate was less than 30%. The total import and export volume of electronic information products in 2008 was US$885.43 billion, a year-on-year increase of 10%, and the growth rate was 13.4 percentage points lower than the same period last year. Among them, the monthly import and export volume of electronic information products showed negative growth in November. In March 2009, my country exported approximately 3.894 billion integrated circuits, with a total export value of approximately US$1.686 billion, an increase of 19.4% from February and a decrease of 13.9% from the same period in 2008. From January to March, my country's cumulative exports of integrated circuits were approximately 8.712 billion units. , a decrease of 19.7% compared with the same period in 2008; the total cumulative export value was approximately US$4.252 billion, a decrease of 21.5% compared with the same period in 2008. The global financial crisis that began in the second half of 2008 had a great impact on my country's integrated circuit exports. Since November 2008, my country's integrated circuit exports have experienced negative year-on-year growth for the first time. As of the end of March 2009, my country's integrated circuit exports had experienced negative year-on-year growth for five consecutive months. Among them, the year-on-year decrease in January was the largest, reaching 37.6; the year-on-year decrease in February and March slowed down, to 12.3 and 13.9 respectively. In January, February and March, the export amount of integrated circuits showed an upward trend month by month. However, as the aftermath of the global financial crisis has not dissipated, the profound impact on my country's integrated circuit exports remains to be seen. In November 2008, the country announced that investment in railway construction would reach 3.5 trillion yuan in the next three years, and the integrated circuit industry as a related industry will benefit from this. The State Council's recent adjustment and revitalization plan for the electronic information industry clearly states that it will "establish an independent and controllable integrated circuit industry system" and "increase investment and concentrate on implementing integrated circuit upgrades." For the domestic integrated circuit industry, the policy environment is constantly improving, which will create a good external environment for the industry. Small and medium-sized enterprises should seize the opportunities brought to the integrated circuit industry by expanding domestic demand, focus on exploring new markets and new areas of technology application, improve innovation capabilities, and strive to achieve the leading edge of enterprise technology and products in specific fields.
The domestic integrated circuit industry will still maintain a growth trend in 2009, but the growth rate will continue to decline. It is expected that the overall growth rate of the industry in 2009 will be around 4. Judging from the development of domestic integrated circuit design, chip manufacturing and packaging and testing industries in 2008, the industries were all affected by the market downturn, with the manufacturing industry being the most obviously affected. The annual growth rate of the chip manufacturing industry was only 1, and all major chip manufacturing companies experienced idle production capacity and declining performance to varying degrees. Although the packaging and testing industry also generally encounters the problems of declining orders and insufficient operating rates, the situation is relatively good, with the industry growth rate for the whole year being around 7.
In addition to the technical differences with other countries, another situation worth noting is that many common architectures and their details have been patented. This situation makes it difficult to carry out work in our country. Senior national leaders need to stand at the high level of national and national strategic interests to coordinate with national actions.
Today, our country already has the material conditions and certain technical capabilities, because a number of integrated circuit production lines have been built or under construction in our country, and their production processes and parameters can be mastered and controlled. At the same time, our country already has some specialized talents in integrated circuit architecture and digital and analog design. Through the leadership of the government and the rational organization of these resources, it is possible for our country to make rapid progress in integrated circuits and microprocessors.
Chapter 4 Constructing my country’s Integrated Circuit Innovation Strategy
Judging from the current situation, our country must study the development laws of integrated circuits and form a first-class knowledge; it must unify planning and centralized leadership. ; It is necessary to improve the innovation system and accelerate technological innovation; it is necessary to seize the opportunity of information industry transfer and optimize the industrial chain structure; it is necessary to move towards high-tech intensive and new knowledge-intensive; it is necessary to strengthen and enhance the international competitiveness of large companies; it is necessary to solve the problem of my country's IC key issues of development; it is necessary to strengthen cooperation in the IC industry across the Taiwan Straits; it is necessary to improve the sustainability of the development of my country's IC industry, etc. In short, the integrated circuit industry is the core strategic industry of the information industry and modern manufacturing industry, and it has become a top priority in the development of the information industry in some countries. Integrated circuit design should be combined with complete machine development, and qualified complete machine companies should be actively supported to establish integrated circuit design centers to design and develop various special-purpose integrated circuits and system-level chips required for complete machines with larger markets. Develop and produce integrated circuit products with independent intellectual property rights, conditionally and gradually expand the production capacity of existing domestic integrated circuit production lines, strengthen research and development of process technology and production technology, accelerate the technological upgrading of existing production lines, and form large-scale production capabilities, Improve product technology and expand product variety. Implement preferential policies, improve the investment environment, and actively encourage domestic and foreign enterprises or investment institutions with economic and technical strength to establish integrated circuit chip production lines in the country.
Chapter 5 Countermeasures and Measures for the Development of Integrated Circuits in my country
1. The government shall take the lead in formulating a long-term development plan and specific development technical specifications for integrated circuits, and encourage domestic manufacturers and universities to and scientific research institutions, and their technologies and talents will be protected and supported as national strategic resources. Establish a national circuit design center to develop and maintain a set of credible and reliable design tools, design rules, various advanced and popular circuit libraries and other basic data. Cultivate, attract and retain a large number of talents to lay a solid foundation for future development. Adopt a strict confidentiality system, use national defense, national security and government applications as breakthrough points to break patent restrictions and fully master various technologies. At the same time, we actively use the country's political, economic and military power to develop a series of corresponding plans to resolve and withstand possible external pressure that occurs.
2. For major integrated circuit projects approved by the state, special measures will be taken to properly solve the problem of capital occupation of input VAT that is difficult to deduct in the short term due to centralized procurement. Specific measures will be formulated by the Ministry of Finance in conjunction with relevant departments. In order to improve the integrated circuit industry chain, corporate income tax concessions will be granted to qualified integrated circuit packaging, testing, key special materials companies, and integrated circuit special equipment-related companies. Specific measures will be formulated by the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation in conjunction with relevant departments.
3. The state strongly supports the construction of important software and integrated circuit projects. Appropriate support will be provided within the central budget for investment in technological progress and technological transformation projects of qualified integrated circuit enterprises. Encourage software companies to strengthen comprehensive capacity building in technology development. The state encourages and supports software companies and integrated circuit companies to strengthen the integration of industrial resources. Relevant departments of the State Council and local people's governments at all levels must actively support and guide the cross-regional reorganization and mergers and acquisitions of software companies and integrated circuit companies in order to integrate resources and become bigger and stronger, and prevent the establishment of various forms of obstacles. Through existing capital and policy channels such as venture capital guidance funds, social capital will be guided to establish venture capital funds to support the entrepreneurship of small and medium-sized software companies and integrated circuit companies. Qualified local governments may, in accordance with relevant national regulations, establish equity investment funds or venture capital funds that mainly support the development of software companies and integrated circuit companies, and guide social funds to invest in the software industry and integrated circuit industry. Actively support qualified software companies and integrated circuit companies to raise funds by issuing stocks, bonds and other methods to expand direct financing channels.
4. Make full use of various funding channels to further increase support for scientific and technological innovation. Give play to the guiding role of major national science and technology projects, vigorously support the research and development of major key technologies in software and integrated circuits, strive to achieve overall breakthroughs in key technologies, and accelerate the industrialization and promotion of technologies with independent intellectual property rights.
Focusing closely on the goal of cultivating strategic emerging industries, we focus on supporting basic software, high-end software for new generation information networks, industrial software, digital content-related software, high-end chips, integrated circuit equipment and process technology, key integrated circuit materials, and key applications. System research and development and formulation of important technical standards. The Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other departments must do a good job in organizing and implementing relevant special projects. Promote the construction of national key laboratories, national engineering laboratories, national engineering centers and corporate technology centers in the fields of basic software, high-performance computing and general computing platforms, integrated circuit process research and development, key materials, key application software and chip design, etc. Departments should prioritize R&D projects. Encourage software companies and integrated circuit companies to establish strategic alliances for industrial technology innovation that combine industry, academia, and research, and promote the coordinated development of the industrial chain. Encourage software companies to vigorously develop software testing and evaluation technologies, improve relevant standards, enhance software research and development capabilities, improve software quality, strengthen brand building, and enhance product competitiveness.
5. For software companies and integrated circuit design companies that need to temporarily import self-use equipment (including development and testing equipment, software and hardware environments, prototypes and components, components, etc.), they must be confirmed by the prefecture-level and municipal-level commerce authorities. , you can apply to the customs for temporary supervision of imported goods, and the import tax will be implemented in accordance with current regulations. For qualified software companies and integrated circuit companies, the quality inspection department can provide advance appointment inspection services, and the customs provides advance appointment customs clearance services according to the requirements of the enterprises. For software export contracts signed between software companies and foreign companies with higher credit ratings, policy financial institutions can provide financing and insurance support within the approved business scope in accordance with the principles of independent loan review and risk controllability. Support enterprises to "go global" to establish overseas marketing networks and R&D centers, and promote the export of integrated circuits, software and information services. Vigorously develop international service outsourcing business. The Ministry of Commerce should work with relevant departments to establish long-term cooperation mechanisms with key countries and regions, and take comprehensive measures to create conditions for enterprises to expand into emerging markets.
6. Accelerate the improvement of various forms of incentive mechanisms such as options, technology shares, equity, and dividend rights, and give full play to the enthusiasm and creativity of R&D personnel and managers. People's governments at all levels can give heavy rewards to senior software and integrated circuit talents who have made outstanding contributions. For software and integrated circuit talents introduced by industrial bases (parks), university software colleges and microelectronics colleges approved by relevant national departments, priority will be given to the individuals, their spouses, and their minor children to settle in the local area. Strengthen talent market management and actively provide services for software companies and integrated circuit companies to recruit talents. Colleges and universities should further deepen reforms, strengthen the construction of software engineering and microelectronics majors, adjust curriculum, teaching plans and teaching methods in a timely manner based on the needs of industrial development, and strive to cultivate international, compound and practical talents. Strengthen the construction of software engineering and microelectronics professional teaching teams, teaching laboratories and internship training bases. The Ministry of Education should work with relevant departments to strengthen supervision and guidance. Encourage qualified colleges and universities to establish microelectronics colleges by jointly running schools with integrated circuit companies. Model microelectronics colleges established upon approval can enjoy the relevant policies of model software colleges. Support the establishment of a comprehensive talent training and practice base that combines schools and enterprises, support model software colleges and microelectronics colleges to cooperate with internationally renowned universities and multinational companies, introduce foreign teachers and high-quality resources, and jointly cultivate software and integrated circuit talents. In accordance with the relevant requirements for the introduction of high-level overseas talents, accelerate the introduction of high-level overseas talents in software and integrated circuits, and implement relevant policies. Formulate and implement annual plans for the introduction and overseas training of software and integrated circuit talents, establish a national international training base for software and integrated circuit talents, and actively open up foreign training channels.
Chapter 6 Prospects for the Development of Integrated Circuits
Driven by various national policies to expand domestic demand, the integrated circuit design industry will be the fastest growing among the domestic integrated circuit industries in the next three years. field, it is expected that its average annual compound growth rate will reach 14.9 in the next three years, and the scale of the design industry will reach 84.54 billion yuan by 2011.
As a large number of chip production lines under construction are gradually put into operation, the domestic chip manufacturing industry will also show a rebound momentum in the next three years. Its three-year compound growth rate is expected to be 5.8. By 2011, its sales revenue is expected to be 46.507 billion yuan; the packaging and testing industry will maintain its current stable development momentum in the future. Its sales revenue is expected to reach 73.67 billion yuan by 2011, with an average annual growth rate of 6.0.
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