Incredible precision! China's advanced etching machine achieves 0.2-angstrom accuracy, breaking the monopoly—and sending shockwaves through the chip industry.

In the chip manufacturing process, the etching machine acts like a master sculptor in the microscopic world—it meticulously carves nanoscale circuit patterns onto silicon wafers according to the design blueprint. As chip technology advances from 5 nanometers to 3 nanometers and even smaller dimensions, the demands on etching precision have reached unimaginable levels.

Zhongwei Company is pleased to announce a groundbreaking advancement in its ICP dual-reactor etching system, the Primo Twin-Star®. By continuously refining the precision of gas control between the two reaction chambers, the company has achieved an etching accuracy of just 0.2 angstroms—approaching sub-angstrom levels. But how precise is that, exactly? It’s roughly one-tenth the diameter of a silicon atom (2.5 angstroms) and an astonishing 5 millionth of the average width of a human hair, which measures about 100 micrometers.
This precision has been successfully validated across etching processes for thin films such as silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, and polysilicon. In a repeatability test conducted on 200 silicon wafers, the average etch rates for the test wafers—100 each placed on the left and right reaction platforms—differed by 0.9 Å/min for silicon dioxide, 1.5 Å/min for silicon nitride, and 1.0 Å/min for polysilicon. Notably, the variation in average etch rates between the two reaction platforms was significantly smaller than the differences observed when multiple wafers were processed on a single platform.

Since its founding in 2004, Zhongwei Company has been dedicated to the research and development of etching equipment. In 2006, the company’s first-generation dual-reactor Capacitively Coupled CCP etching system, the Primo D-RIE®, successfully gained approval for use on advanced logic customers’ production lines internationally—and was subsequently awarded repeat orders. To date, more than 2,000 units of the Primo D-RIE® system, along with its next-generation counterpart, the Primo AD-RIE®, have entered mass production on logic customers’ lines. Notably, nearly 600 of these reactors are already in full-scale production on some of the world’s most cutting-edge logic manufacturing lines, with a significant portion already deployed for high-volume production at 5-nanometer and even more advanced process nodes.
Zhongwei Company has pioneered a dual-reactor etching system featuring a single reaction chamber that can operate either independently or simultaneously, offering advantages such as a compact footprint, high throughput, and reduced costs. The dual-platform CCP and ICP systems have already demonstrated their ability to handle more than 60% of etching applications. Extensive production-line data confirms that both the dual-reactor and single-reactor etchers deliver identical etching performance, along with consistent etching stability and reliability.

In addition to achieving breakthroughs in etching precision, Zhongwei Company recently unveiled several new products. During SEMICON China 2025, Zhongwei officially launched its self-developed 12-inch wafer edge-etching equipment, the Primo Halona™. This innovative machine features Zhongwei’s signature dual-reactor design, allowing for flexible configuration of up to three dual-reactor chambers—each capable of simultaneously processing two wafers. By balancing cost-effectiveness with high productivity, the Primo Halona™ meets the growing demand for mass production of wafer-edge etching processes.

At the 13th Semiconductor Equipment, Core Components, and Materials Exhibition, Zhongwei Company unveiled six new semiconductor equipment products at once, covering critical processes such as plasma etching, atomic layer deposition, and epitaxy. Among them were two etching machines and four thin-film deposition systems.

In the area of etching equipment, Zhongwei Company has launched its next-generation "powerful tool" for plasma etching with extremely high aspect ratios—the CCP Capacitive High-Energy Plasma Etcher Primo UD-RIE®, which builds on the proven design architecture of the established Primo HD-RIE® while featuring a comprehensive upgrade. Equipped with six single-reactor chambers, this advanced system delivers enhanced ion bombardment energy through lower-frequency, higher-power RF bias power supplies, perfectly meeting the demanding requirements of ultra-high aspect-ratio etching processes.

The simultaneously launched Primo Menova™ 12-inch ICP single-chamber etching equipment is specifically designed for metal etching applications, excelling particularly in the etching of metal Al lines and Al blocks. It is widely suited for manufacturing power semiconductors, storage devices, and advanced logic chips—and serves as a core piece of equipment for metalization processes in wafer fabs. In June of this year, the first globally delivered unit of this equipment was shipped to the customer for certification.

In the field of thin-film deposition equipment, Zhongwei Company has launched its 12-inch Atomic Layer Deposition product, the Preforma Uniflash® Metal Gate Series, which includes three key products: Preforma Uniflash® TiN, Preforma Uniflash® TiAI, and Preforma Uniflash® TaN. These solutions are designed to meet the advanced metal gate application requirements for cutting-edge logic and memory devices.

In terms of epitaxial equipment, Zhongwei Company has introduced the PRIMIO Epita® RP, a dual-chamber reduced-pressure epitaxy system that is currently the only product on the market featuring this unique dual-chamber design. With the smallest reaction chamber volume globally, it also offers the flexibility to configure up to six reaction chambers. This innovative design not only significantly reduces production costs and chemical consumption but also delivers exceptional manufacturing efficiency.

Zhongwei's technological strength has earned widespread recognition in the global market. Its CCP capacitive high-energy plasma etchers and ICP inductive low-energy plasma etchers can meet over 95% of domestic etching application needs, delivering exceptional performance and stability that satisfy customers' demanding requirements for advanced manufacturing processes. As of June 30, 2025, the company has accumulated more than 6,800 reactor chambers for plasma etching and chemical thin-film equipment, successfully enabling mass production and repeatable sales across 155 production lines—both domestically and internationally—while deeply integrating into the global semiconductor industry supply chain.

According to the company's preliminary earnings report, Zhongwei Company recorded approximately RMB 9.065 billion in revenue for 2024, an increase of about RMB 2.802 billion compared to 2023. Over the past 13 years, the company has maintained an average annual revenue growth rate exceeding 35%, and in the most recent four years, this growth accelerated further, with an average annual increase of more than 40%. Building on this strong momentum, Zhongwei’s 2024 revenue surged by roughly 44.73% year-on-year. Notably, etching equipment revenue reached approximately RMB 7.277 billion, marking a remarkable 54.73% increase from the previous year—following an average annual growth rate of over 50% in the last four years.

Zhongwei Company continues to strengthen its comprehensive competitive advantages, focusing on boosting labor productivity. Building on its 2022 achievement of 3.5 million yuan in sales per employee, the company surpassed 4 million yuan per employee in 2024. Meanwhile, its key operational metrics have already aligned with those of leading international semiconductor equipment firms.

Zhongwei Company continues to ramp up its innovation and R&D efforts, with projects under development in 2024 spanning six major equipment categories. The company is actively advancing the development of more than 20 new equipment models, while also making steady breakthroughs in the semiconductor thin-film deposition equipment sector. Recently, Zhongwei launched several cutting-edge LPCVD and ALD thin-film devices, earning repeat orders from customers. Additionally, the company’s newly developed products—such as silicon and germanium-silicon epitaxy EPI equipment—are set to undergo market validation in the near term.

The semiconductor equipment industry is fiercely competitive, demanding continuous and substantial R&D investment. In the first half of this year, Zhongwei Company invested 1.492 billion yuan in R&D, representing a year-on-year increase of approximately 53.70%. Notably, R&D spending accounted for about 30.07% of the company’s total revenue.

Over the past 20 years, Zhongwei Company has developed a total of three generations and 18 etching machines. In the plasma etching segment, Zhongwei now offers comprehensive coverage for a wide range of applications, including mature and advanced logic devices, flash memory, DRAM, specialized components, and more—with 95% to 99% of these applications already backed by robust mass-production data.

In the area of thin-film equipment, Zhongwei Company has planned the development of nearly 40 types of conductive thin-film deposition systems. As Zhongwei Chairman Yin Zhiyao announced in May of this year, the company expects to soon complete the development of more than 20 thin-film devices that were previously subject to international export restrictions imposed on China—and anticipates finishing the entire development process by 2029.

Zhongwei's products directly compete with international industry giants. Its etching equipment, the Primo UD-RIE, rivals Lam Research's deep silicon etchers, which dominate processes below 5nm. Meanwhile, the Preforma Uniflash series of ALD equipment challenges Applied Materials' Endura line—known for holding over 60% market share in metal gate deposition. Additionally, Zhongwei's PRIMIO Epita RP epitaxy system differentiates itself by offering a unique competitive edge against Tokyo Electron's EPI platforms.

Zhongwei's 5nm capacitive-coupled plasma etcher has already been certified by TSMC and has entered the company's advanced process supply chain. During TSMC's rigorous testing, Zhongwei's Primo Twin-Star® dual-reactor etcher achieved a critical dimension uniformity (CDU) of less than 1.2 nanometers, demonstrated a aspect ratio capability exceeding 80:1, and delivered a 35% increase in wafer processing throughput per hour (WPH).

Zhongwei Company's breakthroughs are driven by three core, independently developed technologies: innovative plasma source technology, an atomic-level precision control system, and advanced solutions for ensuring production-line stability. Their resonant antenna design boosts plasma density to 170% of conventional equipment levels, while their dual-frequency RF coupling technology overcomes the traditional bottleneck in CCP etching rates. As a result, they’ve achieved a silicon etching rate of 1500 nm/min—22% faster than comparable equipment from Lam Research.

The multispectral endpoint detection system can monitor over 50 types of reactive gas byproducts in real time, while AI-driven parameter optimization achieves a yield prediction accuracy rate of up to 98.7%. This has helped Yangtze Memory Technologies save 15% of its process development time for the 232-layer NAND. Meanwhile, key components from Zhongwei Company have seen their domestic production rate exceed 65%, with an average mean time between failures (MTBF) reaching 1,500 hours—matching international standards.

Continuous operational data from TSMC's Nanjing facility show that the availability rate of equipment from CWIEME Technologies has reached 99.2%. Meanwhile, CWIEME Technologies now holds a 28% market share in the critical field of dielectric etching, significantly reshaping the competitive landscape of semiconductor equipment.