Yes24 "Will Actively Respond to Competitor's Patent Lawsuit"

Yesty, a semiconductor equipment specialist company, announced on the 8th that it will actively respond to a patent dispute related to high-pressure annealing equipment raised by a competitor. Recently, a domestic semiconductor equipment company filed a patent lawsuit claiming that Yesty's high-pressure annealing equipment under development infringed on its patents.

A Yesty official stated, "From the development stage of the high-pressure annealing equipment, we anticipated disputes and have completed multifaceted technical and legal reviews with several patent firms and law firms regarding the patents." He added, "Since the competitor's patent infringement claims are baseless, we will actively respond to this patent lawsuit."

Yesty began developing high-pressure annealing equipment in 2021 using its proprietary high-temperature and high-pressure control technology. During the development process, Yesty filed several patents, including those related to the pressure chamber. These patents are expected to serve as a barrier to entry as core technologies of the high-pressure annealing equipment. In April, Yesty was solely selected for a national project to develop next-generation high-pressure annealing equipment and is advancing the related technology.

Yesty recently completed tests for the commercialization of high-pressure annealing equipment with a semiconductor company. It has now begun preparation procedures for mass production testing. Additionally, process tests for the high-pressure annealing equipment are underway with another global semiconductor giant, which is expected to accelerate commercialization.

High-pressure annealing equipment is necessary for the annealing process, one of the core processes in semiconductors. The annealing process replaces surface defects of the semiconductor's Si (silicon oxide) with high-pressure hydrogen and deuterium to enhance reliability. Through the annealing process, the driving current and integrated circuit performance of semiconductors are improved.

Annealing equipment is gaining market attention as global semiconductor companies expand ultra-fine processes below 10nm to improve information processing speed and reduce costs.