Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment (Group), known as SMEE, displayed a model of a new-generation front-end dry lithography platform at the ninth China International Import Expo in Shanghai. The expo is scheduled to run from November 5 through 10.
According to a report by Mysteel on November 6, which cited the company's official Chinese account, the platform supports both KrF and i-line technology routes. The exhibit is a transparent cutaway model designed to show the layout of internal electromechanical systems and the optical path. SMEE clarified that the display illustrates a standardized equipment architecture and is not an announcement that the model is a newly delivered production tool.
SMEE's account states that the platform integrates several core systems, including alignment and leveling sensors, integrated automated material handling, high-speed dual wafer stages, a reticle stage, and high-precision illumination and objective lenses. The company describes the development and control of these core systems as being in-house across the chain. The intended approach for the platform is to support two exposure routes within a single common architecture.
The cited report does not give a model designation, resolution, numerical aperture, overlay specification or wafer-per-hour throughput for the exhibit. It therefore does not establish a particular process-node capability or a production schedule for a new tool.
SMEE separately claims that multiple pieces of its equipment have been running for extended periods on domestic logic and memory volume-production lines. The company reports that these machines have processed a cumulative total of more than 10 million wafers and maintain an effective equipment operating rate above 92%. Guancha's November 8 Chinese technology roundup repeated these figures as company claims.
These totals refer to equipment already operating on production lines and not to wafers processed by the exhibition model. Neither report identifies the customers, the number of installed tools or the measurement period and methodology behind the operating-rate figure, and these figures have not been independently verified.
Founded in 2002, SMEE develops and manufactures lithography equipment and provides related technical services. The concrete news at the CIIE is the display of a shared dry-lithography architecture and the accompanying operational claims, rather than an independently documented performance comparison or a shipment announcement.
