Minister Choi Ki-young, Nano Jong-giwon 12-inch wafer-based
Inspection of the status of semiconductor small, medium, and large-scale test bed construction
Small and Medium Businesses Share COVID-19 Technology Commercialization Results


On the 11th, Minister of Science and ICT Choi Ki-young visited the site of the 12-inch semiconductor materials, components, and equipment localization support test bed being built at the Nano Comprehensive Technology Institute (Nano Comprehensive Technology Institute) to inspect the progress and held a meeting to promote the test bed.

The testbed provides a production environment similar to that of large-scale mass production facilities, supporting testing and performance evaluation of materials, components, and equipment from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Since the second half of last year, the Ministry of Science and ICT has been promoting the introduction of 10 core pieces of equipment required for the testbed.

The construction of a 12-inch wafer-based semiconductor test bed at Nano Jong-giwon will cost 45 billion won (38.5 billion won for equipment construction, 4.3 billion won for facilities, and 2.2 billion won for process development) from 2019 to 2022.

A dedicated testbed cleanroom was built in June, and an ArF immersion exposure machine and track were delivered in July. The remaining equipment (eight units) is scheduled to be delivered within the year. We plan to provide pilot services simultaneously with equipment installation and improve the quality of services through process advancement.

The meeting held after the on-site inspection was attended by many people involved in the semiconductor industry, including small and medium-sized enterprises in the semiconductor materials, parts, and equipment sectors, the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and ASML Korea, and discussed corporate suggestions for the development of the test bed and ways for mutually beneficial cooperation.

The symposium also showcased the success stories of companies that have recently leveraged the NanoCell Fab to successfully develop and commercialize technologies. These include: Truewin Co., Ltd., which produced an infrared thermal imaging sensor; TNS Co., Ltd., which produced a COVID-19 diagnostic kit; Tempus Co., Ltd., which produced a non-contact infrared thermometer; and DCT Co., Ltd., which produced a hard mask for memory semiconductors.

Minister Choi Ki-young emphasized at the meeting, “It is most important that materials and parts that have passed the test bed are purchased by actual demand companies,” and “It is important to improve the quality of the test bed service for small and medium-sized enterprises of the Nano-Generation Institute and for the end-user companies to actively approach them.”

Nano-Chonggiwon plans to strengthen cooperation with the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association to link the basic and application performance evaluation results of the test bed to the mass production evaluations of demand companies, while also pursuing overall service innovation through expansion of open equipment and usage hours, and personnel expansion.

Furthermore, to address infectious disease issues such as COVID-19, we plan to more actively pursue the development of nanobio devices through collaboration with universities, research institutes, hospitals, and companies, based on nanofab equipment and process technology.