Topographies on semiconductors in the Netherlands

Chips/semiconductors, or topographies on semiconductors, are relevant in the Netherlands for only a few companies, such as ASML, NXP and ASMI. Yet virtually everyone is familiar with microchips, as they play an essential role in all kinds of electronic equipment.

Whereas in the 1960s transistors still formed a visible silver-coloured “street and river image” in radios and televisions, nanotechnology has now reduced these structures to microscopic dimensions. Electronic connections are now measured in hundredths and thousandths of a millimetre.

These connections have long since become invisible to the naked eye. Their complex architecture requires protection, for which this law is suitable. Copyright law did not offer sufficient protection, and patent law also proved inadequate.

Why do copyright and patent laws provide insufficient protection for chips?

Copyright and patent laws offer insufficient protection for chips and semiconductors because they are not specifically designed to protect the unique properties of chip designs. Here are some reasons why these laws fall short:

• Copyright Act: This Act protects creative works such as books, music and art, but is less suitable for technical designs such as chip architectures. Chips are functional structures and therefore do not fall under the traditional definition of copyright protection.
• Patent law: Patents protect technical inventions, but obtaining a patent is a complex and expensive process. Furthermore, inventions must be new and inventive, whereas chip designs are often iterative improvements on existing technologies.

For this reason, separate legislation has been developed, such as the Semiconductor Topography Protection Act, which specifically aims to protect chip designs.

Advantages of legal protection of semiconductor architecture

Legal protection of semiconductor architecture gives designers an exclusive right to their design, similar to copyright. This prevents competitors from simply copying the exact circuits or layer structure of chips. The big advantage? You gain control over the commercial use of your design and can take action against counterfeiting. This is crucial in a market where innovation is costly and margins are under pressure. Please note: protection only applies if registration is timely and for original designs.

Wafer

According to ASML (quote from its website), a “wafer” is: ‘… a thin circular slice of semiconductor material, often silicon, used to make discrete semiconductor devices and integrated circuits (chips).’

These are less than 1 mm thick and have a diameter of between 75 mm and 300 mm. The machine, called a “wafer stepper”, manufactures the chips: (quote) “Stepper and scanner lithography systems (..) are used to print microchip circuit patterns onto silicon wafers. Operating at tremendous speeds, they can print hundreds of chips on every wafer, with features as small as 38 nm, and print up to about 100,000 chip patterns/layers per hour.“