Supercritical Semiconductor Cleaning Equipment Leaked to China
Suwon District Prosecutors' Office Concludes Investigation into National Core Technology Leak Case
[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] A group involved in leaking technology related to the 'supercritical semiconductor cleaning equipment,' developed for the first time in the world by Semes, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, to China has been brought to trial.
On the 16th, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office Defense Industry and Industrial Technology Crime Division (Chief Prosecutor Park Jin-sung) announced that after investigating the case of leaking semiconductor cleaning equipment technology of Semes, a semiconductor cleaning equipment manufacturer, abroad, it was revealed that a former Semes employee leaked the nation's core technology related to supercritical semiconductor cleaning equipment, which Semes developed and successfully mass-produced for the first time in the world and exclusively supplies to domestic semiconductor companies, to China through a Chinese ethnic Korean technology leak broker. Four former Semes researchers were arrested and prosecuted, and one was prosecuted without detention.
Supercritical semiconductor cleaning equipment is equipment that uses supercritical carbon dioxide (a state of matter above critical temperature and pressure) to dry wafers after cleaning wafers used to manufacture memory semiconductor integrated circuits below 20 nanometers with chemical solutions. Semes was the first in the world to develop and commercialize this technology. This technology minimizes damage to substrates and reduces defect rates in ultra-fine semiconductors and has been designated as a 'national core technology' by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Currently, besides Semes, only the Japanese semiconductor equipment company Tokyo Electron (TEL) develops and produces supercritical cleaning equipment.
Semes, which recorded sales of approximately 3.128 trillion KRW in 2021, is the number one semiconductor cleaning equipment manufacturer in Korea and one of the top three semiconductor cleaning equipment manufacturers worldwide.
The prosecution indicted the main suspect, former Semes employee A (47), on charges of violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Act (leaking trade secrets abroad and trade secret leakage), the Industrial Technology Protection Act, and the Specific Economic Crimes Act (embezzlement). The prosecution also indicted former Semes researcher B on charges of violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Act (trade secret leakage) and the Industrial Technology Protection Act, and Chinese national technology leak broker C on the same charges as A. The CEO D of a partner company involved in the technology leak and partner company employee E were also indicted on charges of violating the Industrial Technology Protection Act and the Unfair Competition Prevention Act, with D detained and E prosecuted without detention.
A, who resigned from Semes in 2016, established company F in 2019.
According to the prosecution, A and others are accused of illegally obtaining core blueprints of the supercritical semiconductor cleaning equipment, which was the world's first to be developed and mass-produced, from partner company CEO D around June 2021, and leaking them to China through technology leak broker C.
They are also accused of using materials taken out when resigning from Semes around March to April 2021 to organize technical information for each process in which Semes cleaning equipment is used in Samsung Electronics' memory and foundry semiconductor manufacturing processes (such as chemical solution composition ratios and equipment specifications) and robot setting values, and leaking this information to team leaders at company F. The prosecution confirmed that B was employed at company F under his wife's name, compiled all related Semes information, and distributed it to F's team leaders.
They are also accused of illegally using technical information of the batch-type phosphoric acid cleaning equipment, which Semes developed second in the world between May and July 2021, to create a PowerPoint presentation and leaking it to F's team leaders via internal email. The phosphoric acid cleaning equipment uses phosphoric acid chemical solutions to clean semiconductor wafers one by one and is used to remove silica remaining on the wafer surface. Besides Japan's Shibaura, Semes is the only company in the world to have succeeded in developing batch-type phosphoric acid cleaning equipment that cleans wafers individually.
Additionally, A is accused of embezzling a total of 2.7 billion KRW of company F funds through fictitious transactions using a paper company established under his name from July 2019 to October last year, including 1.6 billion KRW through inserted transactions and 1.1 billion KRW through issuing false tax invoices. Broker C is also charged with participating in the embezzlement of 1.1 billion KRW through issuing false tax invoices.
A was previously arrested and prosecuted in May last year on charges of leaking wet semiconductor cleaning equipment technology developed by Semes. He was released on bail in November of the same year due to the expiration of detention but was re-incarcerated after the prosecution uncovered additional technology leak crimes.
The prosecution conducted three seizure and preservation actions between May and September last year, preserving assets worth approximately 53.5 billion KRW, including six semiconductor cleaning equipment units valued at 23.4 billion KRW, deposits and claims worth 30.1 billion KRW, and real estate through provisional seizure.
A Suwon District Prosecutors' Office official stated, "The defendants exported a total of 20 cleaning equipment units over three years from December 2019 to July last year, gaining enormous profits worth approximately 119.3 billion KRW. The victim company invested about 35 billion KRW, including labor costs, in supercritical technology development research from 2009 to 2021."
He added, "At least the same amount (35 billion KRW) or more in direct damages occurred, and furthermore, due to the decline in Semes' technological competitiveness, even a 10% decrease in orders from major clients could cause annual damages exceeding 40 billion KRW."
Chief Prosecutor Park Jin-sung said, "As a specialized prosecution office for protecting advanced industries, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office will continue to strictly punish industrial technology and trade secret infringement acts that harm a healthy technology development environment and fair market competition order. We will also pursue and recover criminal proceeds to prevent recurrence."
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