Gigaphoton debuts neon recycling system with claimed 50% recovery rate

Japanese semiconductor lithography tool maker Gigaphoton has developed a novel neon gas recycling system named hTGM for its argon fluoride (ArF) excimer lasers. The method has demonstrated a 50% recycling rate, with hopes that it can be improved dramatically with adjusted configurations, Business Wire reports. This could help fill a gap in the chip supply chain caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Before 2022, Ukraine shipped up to 50% of the neon gas used in the semiconductor industry, but its major producers had to stop exports, raising concerns over chip supply. 70% of global neon production is used in semiconductor manufacturing, particularly in advanced DUV processes.

In the aftermath, China, Taiwan, and South Korea all increased their own domestic Neon production efforts, but various chip manufacturers also integrated recycling systems at various points during the fabrication process. Gigaphoton's more efficient ArF lasers with neon recycling could further help close those loops, reducing material costs and further reducing reliance on global supply chains.

It's not the only company pushing this technology forward, either. At the start of September, Japanese environmental protection company Kanken Techno demonstrated its own Neon gas recycling system for excimer lasers at SemiCon Taiwan. It demonstrated a recycling rate of over 90%, suggesting there is considerable headroom to improve this process in the future.

What makes Neon so scarce?

Neon is one of a handful of noble gases, making it inert under standard conditions and easy to handle. However, the ease with which it vaporizes and its limited bonding ability mean it is relatively scarce in Earth's atmosphere, making it scarce. It is most efficiently obtained through fractional distillation of super-cooled air, making it most affordable to obtain as a byproduct of other processes. For decades, Ukrainian steel-mill air-separation units produced crude neon from large-scale air-separation units (ASUs), and then refined it in-country via a pair of key companies.

That meant that when Russia escalated its war against Ukraine into a full-scale invasion in 2022 and Ukrainian neon refiners shut down production, there was an immediate global response.

As SFA Oxford explains, South Korea accelerated domestic production and implemented a large-scale, national neon recycling initiative focused on in-fab recovery. Taiwan installed purification systems in existing blast-furnace ASUs, developing its own domestic supply chain. By utilizing its national infrastructure, it targeted complete self-sufficiency in neon gas production within a few years.

China integrated neon gas purification into many elements of its industrial base, twinning it with steel and petrochemical production facilities. The U.S. also responded with the development of new ASUs at Gulf-coast petrochemical hubs, but those aren't expected to meaningfully improve American neon supplies until near the end of the decade.

Lithography accounts for around 70% of global neon use, particularly in more advanced DUV processes - though crucially, not in EUV lithography, which uses a tin-plasma laser instead. With global DUV-produced semiconductor supply rapidly advancing in the wake of the AI buildout, neon supply is an important component in the chip supply chain, which has rapidly evolved to become a key asset within strategic defence and global trade.

Working with what you've got

For individual companies that can't directly control their supply chains, recycling has been a much more immediate focus. The first neon gas recycling systems were qualified for use with Cymer excimer ArF lasers at the end of 2023, and Samsung and SK Hynix became the first of the major memory makers to implement neon gas recycling in 2024.

Gigaphoton previously offered neon recycling with KrF (krypton fluoride) lasers, but has now extended that recycling capability to ArF lasers as well. It claims a single hTGM for ArF unit can reduce neon gas consumption by up to 470 kilotres per year, representing substantial material cost savings, as well as reducing company reliance on a global supply chain that has been sufficiently unstable in recent years.

However, its claims of a 50% recycling rate aren't exactly groundbreaking. Cymer's excimer laser neon recovery system demonstrated that same level of efficiency in 2015, and Gigaphoton's own testing suggested a potential peak for ArF recovery of over 90% in 2017.

That suggests it should be able to ramp up its efforts to a higher percentage quite swiftly. Especially since fellow Japanese firm Kanken Techno recently unveiled a neon recycling system with over 90% efficiency. Kanken works with both major ArF laser developers and is currently going through the certification process, with expected approval in the near future.

A temporary fix?

With neon gas recycling during chip production effectively solved, it may be that the supply of neon for the chip industry has proved to be a temporary problem. But it may be a temporary solution too, as the use of neon within the industry may be set to shrink dramatically in the years to come.

EUV lithography can build far more complex chips than DUV, and offers a future path beyond the need for neon gas usage in excimer lasers as newer electronics adopt the more capable chip designs. On top of that, alternative technologies to DUV are being developed which could produce the same DUV light to generate advanced semiconductors, but without the need for noble or toxic gases.

Solid-state laser technologies have been rapidly developing in recent years, though last year's Chinese efforts are still below required industrial power thresholds. Nanoimprint lithography also holds promise as a DUV alternative, as well as cutting costs by a comparative 90%.

There are still huge hurdles in performance and certification, as well as integration with existing fabrication plans and supply chains. But the potential to move beyond the need for neon gas within semiconductor lithography is there. Over the coming years, the combination of laser neon recycling systems and alternative manufacturing techniques could reduce the need for international neon sources to a fraction of existing levels.