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The United States is officially banning the export of four technologies related to semiconductor manufacturing, calling protection of the materials “essential to national security.”
announced on Friday [PDF] The rule, issued by the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) and effective today, bans two ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor materials, as well as some electronic computer-aided design (CAD) technology and pressure boosting. Combustion (PGC) technology.
In particular, semiconductor materials such as gallium oxide and diamond are subject to renewed export controls as they can operate at high temperatures and voltages, BIS said. The bureau says the potential makes the materials more useful for weapons.
ECAD software, which helps design various circuits, has special shapes that support gate-all-around field-effect transistors (GAAFETs) used to scale semiconductors down to 3 nanometers and below.
PGC technology has “broad potential” for land and aerospace use, BIS said.
All four items are being classified under Section 1758 of the Export Regulatory Reform Act, which covers the manufacturing of advanced semiconductors and gas turbine engines. Those types of technologies are covered by the Wassenaar Arrangement, a 2013 treaty between the U.S. and 41 other countries, as a broader arms control agreement.
By implementing controls through the multilateral regime, we are protecting the four technologies identified in today’s regime from adverse end-uses, said Assistant Secretary for Commerce T.D. Roseman Kendler in a statement. “This legislation demonstrates our commitment to working with our international partners to impose export controls.”
The four types of technology have been added to the export controls because of a change in May to how the BIS distinguishes between emerging and basic technologies. At the time of the change, such technology was designated to be covered by section 1758.
China target
The BIS statement announcing the export ban did not mention the countries, but recent events make it clear that the target is China – the US has been considering other technology export bans (and investment bans), which recently seem to be tailored to target China.
Analysts in the Middle Kingdom say the ban will have little short-term impact on China’s chip manufacturing industry because no one in China has been able to design chips as advanced as those targeted by the ban.
SMIC, one of China’s leading chipmakers, has begun producing 7nm-process chips, but crucially, it’s doing so using deep ultraviolet (DUV) rather than extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography.
Short-term effects may not occur, said Xiong Jun, an analyst at Wuxi-headquartered Guolian Securities Co Ltd, and said that future breakthroughs in 3nm and sub-3nm technology will “slow down” due to the ban, Chinese news service Caixin reported. ®
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