$STZ (-0.46%)
@Multibagger would that be something for you - a short long until $SMHN (-0.05%) shows clear tendencies? 😁

Edit: Weekly chart added @TradingMelone

$SMHN (-0.05%)
@Multibagger When I look at the charts according to my pattern, I am not surprised by the high short rate. For me, there is more downside than upside.

5-year view: Relevant volumes are all below the current price.

View since October - trend reversalThe price is currently running between VWAP and band 1 - for me no trend recognizable for a short-term trade, in any case wait until the price either approaches the VWAP or returns to band 2 (red line) at the bottom.

View since April - VWAP at last low: It looks similar, the price is hovering somewhere between Band1 and Band2 - currently no prominent entry point.

If I wanted to get in there, I would wait for a short-term trade until the price either runs back to the VWAP and this offers support in the short term, or wait for you as an old "short friend" until it runs back to the edge of Band2 (upper red line) and bounces off this resistance again.

But, this is just my interpretation according to my Setup🤷‍♂️

@Kundenservice Attaching pictures to comments would be a nice thing, I haven't followed the topic anymore, is something like that coming or is it planned?

What do you think of $SMHN (-0.05%) ?

@TomTurboInvest do you see potential there according to your approach? It is the most shorted share in the SDAX!

Reallocation to Alphabet and the new position

Everyone has a problem child in their shopping cart, mine is $SMHN (-0.05%) .

What would you do with the security?

Thanks for your opinion !

Suss Microtec significantly exceeds its own 2024 targets + Trump and bitcoins + Today is a "small expiry day"

Suss Microtec $SMHN (-0.05%)Share gains significantly

• The semiconductor supplier Suss Microtec (formerly Süss Microtec) earned significantly more operationally last year thanks to high demand.
• In 2024, both revenue and the margin were well above the company's most recently published targets.
• Sales are expected to have amounted to 445 million euros, as the Group surprisingly announced on Thursday evening in Garching.
• Suss had targeted 380 million euros to 410 million euros.
• According to the key figures, the margin based on earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) is around 17.5 percent, which is also better than recently forecast.
• Suss had expected a maximum figure of 16 percent. In 2023, the company had achieved a turnover of just over 300 million euros in continuing operations, with a margin of 9.1 percent.
• The SDax-listed share price rose significantly following the surprisingly published key figures.

Bitcoin $BTC (+0.98%)moves above $101,500 again

• According to reports, Trump is considering "a government program to buy and hold billions of dollars worth of bitcoins" via a bitcoin reserve, according to the NYT.

Friday: Stock market dates, economic data, quarterly figures

Small expiry day

• ex-dividend of individual stocks
• General Dynamics USD 1.42

• Quarterly figures / company dates USA / Asia
• 13:00 Schlumberger | Fastenal | State Street Quarterly figures

• Economic data

08:00 UK: Retail Sales December FORECAST: 0.0% yoy/ n.a. previous: +0.2% yoy/+0.5% yoy

11:00 EU: Consumer prices December Eurozone PROGNOSE: +0.4% yoy/+2.4% yoy PREVIEW: +0.4% yoy/+2.4% yoy PREVIEW: -0.3% yoy/+2.2% yoy CORE RATE PROGNOSE: +0.5% yoy/+2.7% yoy PREVIEW: +0.5% yoy/+2.7% yoy PREVIEW: -0.6% yoy/+2.7% yoy

14:30 US: Housing starts/permits December housing starts FORECAST: +3.2% yoy previous: -1.8% yoy Building Permits FORECAST: -3.0% yoy previous: +6.1% yoy

15:15 US: Industrial production and capacity utilization December Industrial production PROGNOSE: +0.2% yoy previous: -0.1% yoy Capacity utilization PROGNOSE: 77.0% previous: 76.8%

From sand to chip: how is a modern semiconductor made?

Reading time: approx. 10min

1) INTRODUCTION

Since 2023 at the latest and the rapid rise of Nvidia $NVDA (-0.33%) semiconductors and "AI chips" in particular have been the talk of the town. Since then, investors have been chasing after almost every company that has something to do with the manufacture of chips, driving share prices to unimagined heights. However, hardly any investors really know how complex the value chain is within the production of modern chips.

In this article, I will give you an overview of the entire manufacturing process and the companies involved. Even if many of you have a vague idea that the production of modern chips is complex, you will certainly be surprised by how complex it really is in reality.

2) BASIC

The starting point for every chip are so-called wafers [1] - i.e. thin wafers, which usually consist of so-called high-purity monocrystalline silicon. In the field of power semiconductors, which primarily comprises chips for applications with higher currents and voltages, silicon carbide (SiC) or galium nitride (GaN) has recently also been used as the base material for the wafers.

In the so-called front end the actual core components of the chips - the so-called dies - are created and applied to the wafers. The dies are rectangular structures that contain the actual functionality of the later chip. The finished dies are then tested for their functionality and electrical properties. Each die that is found to be good is then integrated into the so-called backend where the individual dies are separated on the wafer. This is followed by the so-called packaging. The individual dies from the front end are then electrically contacted and integrated into a protective housing. In the end, this housing with the contacted die is what is usually called a chip chip.

Now that we have a rough overview of the overall process, let's take a closer look at the individual processes involved in producing the dies on the wafer. This is the area in which most highly complex machines are used and which is usually the most sensitive.

3) FROM SAND TO WAFER

Before wafers made of high-purity silicon can even be produced and the actual process for manufacturing dies can begin, the actual wafer must first be manufactured in almost perfect quality. To do this, quartz sand, which consists largely of silicon dioxide, is reduced with carbon at high temperatures. This produces so-called raw siliconwhich, with a purity of around 96%, is not yet anywhere near the quality required for the production of wafers.

In several chemical processes, which are carried out by Wacker Chemie
$WCH (+1.74%) or Siltronic
$WAF (+2.84%) are used to turn the "impure" silicon into so-called polycrystalline silicon with a purity of 99.9999999%. For every billion silicon atoms, there is then only one foreign atom in the silicon. However, this pure polycrystalline silicon is still not suitable for the production of wafers, as the crystal structure in the silicon is not uniform enough. In order to create the right crystal structure, the polycrystalline silicon is then melted again and a so-called ingotwhich is made from monocrystalline silicon is produced. A comparison between raw silicon and the ingot can be found in the following image [3]:

This ingot is then sawn into thin slices, which are then the final wafers for semiconductor production. The best-known wafer producers are Shin Etsu
$4063, (-0.69%)
Siltronic or GlobalWafers
$6488.

4) FROM THE WAFER TO THE DIE

The wafers described in the previous section can now be used to produce dies. The overall process for producing dies basically consists of applying a large number of layers using various chemical, mechanical and physical processes. The overall process (depending on the product) takes approx. 80 different layers on the wafer, requiring almost 1000 different process steps and 3 months
non-stop production are required [4].

A macroscopic analogy is useful here, which I have also taken from [4]. You can compare the overall process for producing dies with baking a large multi-layer cake. This cake has 80 layers and the recipe for baking consists of 1000 steps. It takes 3 months to make the cake and if even one layer of the cake deviates from the recipe by more than 1%, the whole cake collapses and has to be thrown away.

In the first process steps, the wafer is covered with billions tiny little transistors are created on the wafer, which are then all individually electrically contacted in the following steps. The final steps consist of electrically connecting the transistors to each other, resulting in a complete electrical circuit [4]:

Each individual layer of the approximately 80 layers in the die requires highly specialized processes, which can be roughly summarized as:

• Applying masks: Photolithography, photoresist coating (applying photoresist)
• Apply material: Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD), Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD), Atomic Layer Deposition
• Remove material: Plasma annealing, Wet annealing, Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP)
• Modify material: Ion Implanting, Annealing
• Material cleaning
• Inspecting the layers: Optical, Microscopical, Focused Ion Beam, Defect Inspection

Apply masks

Ultimately, a mask can be thought of as an enlarged copy of the structure of a special layer in the die. These so-called photomasks are then scanned using so-called scanners or steppers "copied" in reduced size onto the wafer. The best-known manufacturer of such lithography systems is ASML
$ASML (+2.41%). It is currently the only producer of lithography systems that make it possible to produce structures smaller than 10 nanometers on the wafer. In today's powerful and modern chips, such as those found in smartphones, AI chips and processors, the smallest structures are around 3 nanometers in size. Other manufacturers of lithography systems for larger structures (10nm and larger) are Canon Electronics
$7739 or Nikon $7731 (-1.65%) .

The photomasks - i.e. the enlarged "copies" of the structures - are produced by companies such as Toppan $7911 (-1.35%) , Dai Nippon Printing
$7912 (+0%) or Hoya $7741 (+1.25%) manufactured. Systems for cleaning the photomasks or for applying the photoresist are produced, for example, by Suss Microtec
$SMHN (-0.05%) for example.

Apply/remove/modify/clean material

As can be seen in the overview above, there are a variety of methods and processes for modifying the material of a particular layer. As a result, there is a lot of different equipment that can handle a process very well with incredible specialization. The best-known and most successful equipment manufacturers include Applied Materials $AMAT (+0.59%), LAM Research
$LRCX (+0.79%), Tokyo Electron (TEL)
$8035, (-0.69%)
Suss Mictrotec, Entegris
$ENTG (+0.27%) and Axcelis $ACLS (+0.28%).

The material - for example, highly specialized chemicals - is of course also required for production. Companies such as Linde
$LIN (+0%), Air Liquide
$AI (-1.13%), Air Products
$APD (+0.7%) and Nippon Sanso
$4091 (-3.88%) are major manufacturers of process gases such as nitrogen, hydrogen and argon.

Inspect

As mentioned, every single layer in the manufacturing process of a die must be perfect in order to obtain a functional die at the end. Any small deviation or foreign particles can impair the functionality of the die. As the function of the die can only be checked precisely on the finished die, it is advantageous to inspect the individual layers for defects and deviations during production. Special machines are required for this, which must be able to do different things depending on the layer. Manufacturers of such machines include KLA
$KLAC (+0.56%) or Onto Innovation
$ONTO (-3%).

The following applies to almost all of the companies mentioned in this section: the companies are highly specialized and have quasi-monopolies on the machines for certain process steps. quasi-monopolies. Suitable equipment therefore usually costs several million dollars. In addition, some of the systems are so complex that they can only be serviced by the manufacturer's own service staff, which results in recurring service revenues for every machine sold. As a rule, each machine requires several highly specialized engineers to ensure long-term stable operation.

5) FROM THE DIE TO THE FINISHED CHIP

Once the wafer has been processed, the dies on the wafer are checked for functionality. There is highly specialized equipment for this, so-called probers. These probers test each individual chip several times, if necessary, to check the functionality implemented in the design. Manufacturers of such probers include Teradyne $TER (+0.71%), Keysight Technologies
$KEYS (+0.61%), Onto Innovation or Tokyo Electron. These probers have to control each individual die, some of which are only a few square millimetres in size, and contact the corresponding much smaller test structures with tiny needles. The testing process is sometimes outsourced to entire companies that offer die testing as a complete package. One example of such providers is Amkor Technology
$AMKR (+0%).

The processed and tested wafer is now sawn to obtain individual dies. The dies that are found to be good are then integrated into a protective housing in the backend. The dies that have not passed the functionality test are either sorted out or (depending on the error pattern) processed as a variant with reduced functionality similar to those with full functionality. After a final functional test in the package, the chip is ready for use.

6) FOUNDRIES, FABLESS & SOFTWARE

Now that we have an overview of the complex process of manufacturing a chip, let's zoom out a little further to understand which companies perform which tasks in the semiconductor industry.

It's funny that not once in the manufacturing process has the name Nvidia $NVDA (-0.33%) or Apple $AAPL (-0.09%) has been mentioned? Yet they have the most advanced chips, don't they?

The pure production of the chips is done by other companies - so-called foundries. Companies like Nvidia and even AMD $AMD (+0.5%) are in fact fablessThis means that they do not have their own production facilities but only supply the chip design and let the foundries manufacture the actual chip according to their design.

The design of a chip is like the blueprint for production - the foundries then take over the recipe creation and the actual production. There is special software for designing chips. Companies known for this software include Cadance Design
$CDNS (-0.65%) and Synopsys $SNPS (-0.33%). But also the industrial giant Siemens
$SIE (+0.26%) now also supplies software for designing integrated circuits. Synopsys also offers other software for data analysis within foundry production.

Speaking of foundries; the best known foundry is probably TSMC
$TSM, (-0.27%) which is the global market leader in foundries. TSMC designs itself no chips itself and specializes exclusively in the production of the most advanced generations of chips. Another major player that also masters the most advanced structure sizes is Samsung $005930. In contrast to TSMC manufactures Samsung also produces its own designs. Other large foundries are Global Foundries
$GFS, (+1.05%) which was originally a spin-off from AMD and the Taiwanese company United Micro Electronics
$UMC. (-1.06%)

The best-known fabless companies - i.e. companies without their own chip production - are Nvidia, Apple, AMD, ARM Holdings
$ARM, (+1.82%)
Broadcom $AVGO (+0.78%), MediaTek $2454 and Qualcomm $QCOM. (+0.52%) In the meantime Alphabet $GOOGL, (-1.87%)
Microsoft $MSFT, (+1.19%)
Amazon $AMZN (-1.08%) and Meta $META (+1.5%) have designed their own chips for certain functionalities and then have them manufactured in foundries.

In addition to foundries and fabless companies, there are of course also hybrid models, i.e. companies that take on both production and design. The best-known examples of this are, of course, companies such as Intel
$INTC (-0.28%) and Samsung. There is also a whole range of so-called Integrated Device Manufacturer (IDM)which for the most part only manufacture their own designed chips and do not accept customer orders for production. Well-known companies such as Texas Instruments
$TXN, (+0.46%)
SK Hynix
$000660,
STMicroelectronics
$STMPA, (+1.15%)
NXP Semiconductors
$NXPI, (+0.28%)
Infineon $IFX (+1.66%) and Renesas $6723 (+1.52%) are among the IDMs.

FINAL WORD

The aim of this article was to provide an overview of the complexity of the semiconductor industry. I do not, of course no claim to be complete, as there are of course many other companies that are part of this value chain. As Getquin thrives on active exchange, I'll give you some food for thought to discuss in the comments below the article:

• feel free to link any other companies in the comments if you think I've forgotten any relevant ones
• what was the most surprising new information for you from the article?
• which companies from the article have you never heard of?
• before reading the article, did you know approximately how a modern chip is produced and what steps are necessary for this?

In general, I can recommend the 20-minute YouTube video at [4] to any interested reader. It provides an excellent animated overview of the manufacturing process of modern chips.

Stay tuned,

Yours Nico Uhlig (aka RealMichaelScott)

SOURCES:

[1] Wikipedia: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wafer

[2] https://www.halbleiter.org/waferherstellung/einkristall/

[3] https://solarmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/solarmuseum_org-07917.jpg

[4] Branch Education on YouTube: "How are Microchips Made?" https://youtu.be/dX9CGRZwD-w?si=xeV0TYgJ2iwNOKyO

Good morning everyone,

Does anyone here happen to know why $SMHN (-0.05%) is currently being penalized?

Google didn't get me any further here.

Thank you very much!

⬆️⬆️⬆️

- UBS raises its price target for NVIDIA from USD 150 to USD 185. Buy. $NVDA (-0.33%)

- METZLER raises the price target for MUNICH RE from EUR 535 to EUR 543. Buy. $MUV2 (-2.32%)

- GOLDMAN lowers the target price for NOVO NORDISK from DKK 1040 to DKK 1025. Buy. $NOVO B (-5.39%)

- GOLDMAN upgrades MTU from Neutral to Buy and raises target price from EUR 276 to EUR 400. $MTX (-0.09%)

- GOLDMAN upgrades BASF from Neutral to Buy and raises target price from EUR 45 to EUR 53. $BAS (+0.31%)

- DEUTSCHE BANK RESEARCH raises the price target for FRESENIUS SE from EUR 42 to EUR 44. Buy. $FRE (+0.29%)

- DEUTSCHE BANK RESEARCH raises the price target for EMBRACER from SEK 24 to SEK 28. Hold. $TH9A

- DEUTSCHE BANK RESEARCH raises the price target for AMADEUS IT from EUR 62 to EUR 65. Hold. $AMS (+0.03%)

- DEUTSCHE BANK RESEARCH raises the price target for NEMETSCHEK from EUR 85 to EUR 100. Hold. $NEM (+3.03%)

- WARBURG RESEARCH raises the price target for DÜRR from EUR 32 to EUR 33. Buy. $DURYY (-6.31%)

- HAUCK AUFHÄUSER IB upgrades CANCOM from Hold to Buy. Target price EUR 32. $COK (+0.18%)

- ODDO BHF upgrades GENERALI to Neutral. Target price EUR 26.10. $G (+0%)

- METZLER raises the price target for HEIDELBERG MATERIALS from EUR 131 to EUR 138. Buy. $HEI (+0.34%)

- BERENBERG raises the price target for FLATEXDEGIRO from EUR 16 to EUR 18. Buy. $FTK (-0.47%)

- BERENBERG raises the price target for FREENET from EUR 29 to EUR 32. Buy. $FNTN (+1.41%)

- JPMORGAN raises the target price for HEIDELBERG MATERIALS from EUR 108 to EUR 149. Overweight. $HEI (+0.34%)

⬇️⬇️⬇️

- UBS lowers the price target for MUNICH RE from EUR 560 to EUR 540. Buy. $MUV2 (-2.32%)

- ODDO BHF downgrades MODERNA to Outperform. Target price USD 86. $MRNA (-1.87%)

- UBS downgrades VALE from Buy to Neutral and lowers target price from USD 14 to USD 11.50. $VALE (+0.76%)

- DZ BANK lowers target price for DEUTZ from EUR 6.80 to EUR 5.80. Buy. $DEZ (+0.4%)

- DZ BANK lowers the price target for BECHTLE from EUR 51 to EUR 45. Buy. $BC8 (-0.82%)

- BERENBERG lowers the target price for ESTEE LAUDER from USD 87 to USD 76. Hold. $EL (+4.13%)

- RBC lowers the target price for ASOS from GBP 4.60 to GBP 4. Sector Perform. $ASC (+0.87%)

- RBC lowers the price target for EVOTEC from EUR 12 to EUR 11.60. Outperform. $EVT (-2.01%)

- RBC lowers the price target for VESTAS from DKK 222 to DKK 156. Outperform. $VWS (-2.11%)

- BERENBERG lowers the price target for SUSS MICROTEC from EUR 80 to EUR 75. Buy. $SMHN (-0.05%)

- JEFFERIES downgrades NEL from Hold to Underperform and lowers target price from NOK 5.50 to NOK 3. $NEL (-2.11%)

- RBC lowers the price target for BMW from EUR 81 to EUR 80. Sector Perform. $BMW (-0.44%)

- JEFFERIES lowers the price target for KNAUS TABBERT from EUR 26 to EUR 20. Hold. $KTA (+0.22%)

Analsyst updates, 08.11.

⬆️⬆️⬆️

- GOLDMAN upgrades BIONTECH from Neutral to Buy and raises price target from USD 90 to USD 137. $BNTX (-3.41%)

- BOFA raises target price for UNDER ARMOUR from USD 9 to USD 13. Neutral. $UAA (-3.03%)

- DEUTSCHE BANK RESEARCH raises the price target for DELIVERY HERO from EUR 29 to EUR 35. Hold. $DHE

- DEUTSCHE BANK RESEARCH raises the price target for SIEMENS from EUR 197 to EUR 200. Buy. $SIE (+0.26%)

- JEFFERIES raises the price target for HOCHTIEF from EUR 135 to EUR 138. Buy. $HOT (+3.98%)

- DEUTSCHE BANK RESEARCH raises the price target for SIEMENS HEALTHINEERS from EUR 60 to EUR 62. Buy. $SHL (+1.47%)

- DEUTSCHE BANK RESEARCH raises the price target for NORDEX from EUR 18 to EUR 19. Buy. $NDX1 (-0.39%)

- DEUTSCHE BANK RESEARCH raises the price target for RATIONAL from 832 EUR to 841 EUR. Hold. $RAA (+1.56%)

- DEUTSCHE BANK RESEARCH raises the target price for AXA from 37 EUR to 39 EUR. Buy. $CS (+0.01%)

- WARBURG RESEARCH raises the price target for BASTEI LÜBBE from EUR 11.70 to EUR 12.20. Buy. $BST (+1.64%)

- DEUTSCHE BANK RESEARCH raises the price target for ARCELORMITTAL from EUR 28 to EUR 29. Buy. $MT (+1.17%)

- DZ BANK raises the price target for SWISS RE from CHF 130 to CHF 140. Buy. $SREN (+0.4%)

- ODDO BHF raises the price target for HEIDELBERG MATERIALS from EUR 99 to EUR 110. Neutral. $HEI (+0.34%)

- KEPLER CHEUVREUX raises the price target for DAIMLER TRUCK from EUR 35 to EUR 41. Hold. $DTG (+0.32%)

- KEPLER CHEUVREUX upgrades REDCARE PHARMACY from Reduce to Hold. $RDC (+2.99%)

- ODDO BHF raises the price target for HENKEL from EUR 67 to EUR 73. Neutral. $HEN (+1.4%)

- ODDO BHF raises the price target for FREENET from EUR 27 to EUR 28. Neutral. $FNTN (+1.41%)

- BARCLAYS raises the target price for ABOUT YOU from EUR 3.10 to EUR 3.40. Underweight. $YOU (+0.3%)

- BARCLAYS raises the target price for NEMETSCHEK from EUR 108 to EUR 125. Overweight. $NEM (+3.03%)

⬇️⬇️⬇️

- BOFA lowers the price target for PINTEREST from USD 45 to USD 39. Buy. $PINS

- WARBURG RESEARCH lowers the price target for DAIMLER TRUCK from EUR 56 to EUR 55. Buy. $DTG (+0.32%)

- UBS lowers the price target for JCDECAUX from EUR 21.60 to EUR 18.50. Neutral. $DEC (+1.26%)

- WARBURG RESEARCH lowers the price target for ADTRAN HOLDING from EUR 9.70 to EUR 9.30. Buy. $ADTN (+5.87%)

- ODDO BHF lowers the price target for NORDEX from EUR 18 to EUR 17. Outperform. $NDX1 (-0.39%)

- BARCLAYS lowers the target price for VESTAS from DKK 99 to DKK 80. Underweight. $VWS (-2.11%)

- KEPLER CHEUVREUX lowers the price target for FRAPORT from EUR 62 to EUR 59. Buy. $FRA (+0.08%)

- BARCLAYS lowers the target price for GSK from GBP 15.50 to GBP 14.50. Equal-Weight. $GSK

- BERENBERG lowers the price target for COMPUGROUP from EUR 23 to EUR 21. Buy. $COP (-1.55%)

- BERENBERG lowers the price target for JUNGHEINRICH from EUR 41 to EUR 39. Buy. $JUN3 (+0.87%)

- JEFFERIES lowers the target price for SUSS MICROTEC from EUR 87 to EUR 75. Buy. $SMHN (-0.05%)