SMC (Strategic Materials Conference) Korea 2025

As the era of lateral shrink is coming to a cliff, the need for looking at the remaining axis is uprising - the Z-axis. For DRAM, the introduction of vertical channel is very near, and even the introduction of a full 3D-DRAM is not far away. Fortunately, we have experience of VNAND, which could tell us many things about the difficulties following the 3D stacking structures. Starting from the change in the material we've gone through regarding the conversion of planar to vertical NAND, prospection of the material innovation for 3D-DRAM will be shared. The introduction of materials for the construction of deep holes and lengthy lines will be addressed. Also, needs for innovative sacrificial and auxiliary materials will be presented.

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As DRAM scaling approaches fundamental limits, advanced architectures such as 3D DRAM and 4F² DRAM have emerged as promising solutions. The industry initially anticipated the adoption of these technologies around the 1d to 0a nm nodes; however, they remain in development, with mass production likely postponed until the 0b node. For instance, current 3D DRAM samples feature 8–12 layers, while the target is approximately 90 layers. Recent advancements include 3D DRAM with vertical bit-line architecture, demonstrating improved on-current performance and gate control through 5-layered cell stacks utilizing Si/SiGe sacrificial layers and hybrid bonding. Meanwhile, novel 4F² DRAM transistor structures exhibit enhanced operational margins and mitigate floating body effects through dual-gate designs. Additionally, a 3D stackable DRAM architecture with horizontally stacked transistors has been proposed to address challenges such as gate-induced drain leakage (GIDL) and row hammer effects, supported by both experimental and simulation results. Collectively, these innovations underscore the potential of 3D and 4F² DRAM as next-generation solutions to overcome scaling bottlenecks and meet the growing demand for high-density, low-power memory.

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The development of semiconductor technology can be continuously achieved through the collaboration of materials, processes, devices, and systems, and 3D devices and 3D integration process technologies will be essential in the future. From this perspective, the structural change of semiconductor transistors is expected to evolve from the current Gate-All-Around FET (GAAFET) to a new Complementary FET (CFET) device. This structural change of semiconductor devices requires new materials and process technologies. Various technologies are required, such as Monolithic or Sequential 3D integration, Si/Si or Si/Non-Si substrates, new low-resistivity metals, CMP, Bonding, TSV, and Back-Side Power Network Delivery (BSPDN). In this presentation, we will examine the technological trends from the materials and process perspectives for the development of CFET device technology.

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For the past six decades, hazardous gas hydrides like GeH4, Si2H6, and B2H6 have been essential to the semiconductor industry. Their high reactivity, strong reducing power, and ability to grow high-quality, carbon-free layers have made them vital for applications ranging from Si and SiGe epitaxy to tungsten metallization. In recent years, new applications and integration schemes have emerged, demanding higher-performance hydride sources for low-temperature Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) and epitaxy. This increased global demand drives production investments, despite the challenges of handling, facilitating, and logistics constraints such as limited shelf-life, pyrophoricity, and toxicity. In this talk, we will provide an overview of the current gaseous hydrides landscape and its challenges. We will discuss how the gas industry can ensure the semiconductor industry's continued safe access to these critical materials through enhanced stewardship, optimized supply chains, packaging, and manufacturing techniques. Furthermore, we will provide insights into technology trends towards new-generation, extra-low-temperature epitaxy and high dopant sources, and their potential use in future transistor architectures.

Emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) is predicted to drive global chip sales to ~$1 trillion revenue by 2030. This surge of AI-targeted chip demand is driving ever-increasing requirement in compute speed to >109 petaFLOPS. High-bandwidth memory (HBM) architecture is well-suited to fulfill this requirement, currently offering >1TB/s bandwidth. To continue improving HBM performance, materials engineering innovations are required in critical packaging building blocks, such as TSV and Hybrid Bonding. Solutions from equipment manufacturer standpoint were presented, in relation to TSV gapfill, low-temperature (<300˚C) hybrid bonding enablement, and bond strength consideration for higher I/O count in the future. Timely solutions to the dynamic HBM integration challenges should be seen holistically and to this end, active partnerships and collaboration across the ecosystem are encouraged.

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The semiconductor industry continues to advance, propelled by growing demand for AI-driven computing and storage technologies and diverse digital applications. However, this growth is tempered by rising economic uncertainty and escalating trade tensions, particularly due to recent U.S. tariff policies, which threaten to disrupt global supply chains. The semiconductor materials sector faces multifaceted challenges, including increasing rapid technological innovation, geopolitical volatility, large-scale capacity expansions and climate change actions. While the market remains relatively stagnant in 2024 compared to 2023, a rebound is anticipated in 2025–2026, driven by long-term demand for advanced computing and storage solutions. A shifting supplier landscape is emerging, marked by the rise of regional players—notably in China—and consolidation among multinational corporations pursuing economies of scale through mergers and acquisitions. Geopolitical pressures are driving localization and dual sourcing, which raise costs, reduce efficiency, and complicate supply chains. This talk highlights the need for a delicate balance between innovation-driven growth and the escalating operational challenges in the semiconductor materials industry.

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As the commercialization of artificial intelligence (AI) and the advancement of technologies such as high-performance computing (HPC) and deep learning (DL) progress, the need to process large amounts of data quickly has emerged. Traditional DDR and GDDR memory have limited bandwidth, so HBM, which offers higher performance, has been commercialized, driving the development of new technologies.
Compared to traditional memory chips, HBM has increased chip size and higher defectivity vulnerability due to chip stacking processes. This has led to new technical approaches for wafer defectivity control across the entire material ecosystem.
This presentation reviews the latest trends in filtration/purification technologies aimed at minimizing the impact of particles and impurities in this material ecosystem. By examining current HVM devices and next-generation HBM-related technologies, we aim to contribute to wafer defect control.

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As semiconductor manufacturers continue the vertical scaling of 3D memory devices, advanced metrology and process control strategies are becoming increasingly essential for maintaining yield and reliability. The rising aspect ratios (AR > 100) of device features present significant challenges for conformal thin-film deposition via atomic layer deposition (ALD). Ultra-thin dielectric films and multilayer stacks—widely used in 3D memory channel holes—are particularly sensitive to process variations. Even minor deviations in ALD process conditions can result in non-uniform film coverage, defect formation, or electrical performance issues, all of which are difficult to detect and monitor within high-aspect-ratio structures.
To address these challenges, Chipmetrics has developed a novel method based on lateral ultra-high-aspect-ratio test structures (PillarHall®) for ALD process development, monitoring, and tool qualification. In the PillarHall® test wafers, the aspect ratio exceeds 1000, enabling practical and non-destructive measurement of film conformality. The method offers a sensitive and scalable solution for improving ALD process qualification, benchmarking tool performance, and enhancing production stability.
This presentation will highlight recent advancements in PillarHall® technology, with a focus on its application in ALD tool qualification and ALD process window control.

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There have been lots of technical advances in the fileld of semiconductor industry for the last dacades ever since DRAM and NAND were invented and commercialized. Meanwhile, form factor was changed from 8F2 to 6F2 in DRAM, and the concept of 3D stacking was adopted in NAND flash memory. Furthermore, EUV tool has been adopted and are being successfully used to make the fine pattern in logic and DRAM as well. And also, it has been very long since ALD was taken as a new advanced depostion technology to meet the need for excellent conformality. But all these new process technologies couldn’t have been possible without the advances in process materials such as advanced photo resist, precursors, functional chemicals and CMP slurries. Recently, those process materials are beginning to open the new possibilities for the innovation of process integations, resulting in cost reduction and giving an extra performance to the process tools. In this talk, the role, the current issues and future challenges will be discussed focusing on the process materials in semiconductor industry.
Starting from photo resist, thin and etch resistant resist has been cosistantly required to suppress the pattern collapse and wiggling during the patterning process. Since the EUV was adopted in DRAM and Logic, high sensitivity EUV resist is now being intensively explored to obtain low DtS as well as good CD uniformity to make the best use of the enomoursly high-priced EUV tool in a cost effective way. For the sake of that, even metal-containing resist is also being tried for high quality patterning. Additionally, thick KrF resist is also required at 3D NAND flash memory with the increase of ON stack and especially for the new platform to be. And for the future, the new concept of PR based on small sized polymer will be worth trying and dry type developer would be also necessary to keep the pattern stable without collapse or wiggling.
With regard to the wet chemicals and CMP slurries, advanced functional chemicals are getting more and more important rather than convetnional cleaning chemicals that are used after etch and CMP process. W or Mo recess chemical in 3D NAND would be that very case. Those chemicals should assure the good uniformity in terms of recess amount in the vertical direction. Most of all etch and CMP prcesses need post cleaning steps to clean the residue, but during that, some unwanted part of the surroundings is apt unavoidably to be removed deteriorating the device proformance in the end. Therefore, special clean chemical will be also needed to minimize the unwanted film loss as well as residue removal. When it comes to the slurry, the shape of the abbrasive particles consistently has been changing from sharp and pointed to the rounded one by adopting colloidal synthesis to suppress the scratch during CMP. The size of the abrasive particle tends to get smaller but slurry is required to make up the decreased removal rate by properly regulating components within slurry. With the change of material to be polished such as Mo or Carbon, new slurry for those new materials will be a new drive for CMP related materials.
Precursor and some functional gases have been contributing to the quality improvement or deposition modication of functional materials such as high-k materials in DRAM. As always, there should be more technical areas, in which precursor and gas will be able to play an important role in ASD(Areal Selective Deposition) or ALE(Atomic Layer Etching) process.
Since process materials needs to be considered from the operation of FAB line unlike the process tools, it must be managed well from the aspect of consistent quality control and risk management of supply chain and safety. In the past, process material used to play a simple and supporting role in the process and tools as well. But now, it is becoming a time for the process materials to play a more active role in cost reduction and risk management as well as providing technology for semiconductor industry. Especially, new process materials are also required to meet the needs for low carbon emission during the process and safety issues from the using PFAS containg materials that are hazardous to human body. Way of doing work needs to be also changed in a way that R&D activities have to be shifted to the earlier engagement. And plus, the collaboration between device maker and process material supplier shoud be much closer and earlier than before so that the developed materials can be successfully adopted at a targeted process and a tool for it. As the material supply chain has been becoming very unstable since corona pandemic and US-China trade conflict, it needs to be managed with a good predictability and balance as well in order for consistent and stable supply in case of unexpected issues at a supply chain.

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