PROGRESS IN THE PRODUCTION OF SEMICONDUCTORS IN THE USSR AND EASTERN EUROPE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85T00875R001900020086-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 29, 2005
• Sequence Number: 86
• Publication Date: March 22, 1974
• Content Type: MF

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f?':;:'?.O1t' DU ?? FOR:
Director
O ._ T:i ce o L. Export T~cl nin i s ra orL
Bureau of" Intc_na L. i oval Co:,ui1.ercc
Dep :r Er.en L of C'o:a ercc
SW3JECT Progress in the Production of
So.riconducto.rs in the USSR
and Eastern Europe
.
c L' U.Ci.Ci?: cam..?: Eastern '`L:_"Op^.
REFT: E .'T [. l i
Semiconductors, dated 9 Apr 73
1 . Attached, is an up-datce of an ea li e1- Cdiscussion of
sami.conduc"Zor S -^- - `ho-art in t! 1e USSR at-id Ec--;F_
(sce
2. :~?1`i ' t'Cc-1Ct ~., or ._cuL,'c. -
, QL'.'r1 '.S C:7;!C'i"I11nCJ L:h ,c: c..~~. StL~_, S~_s
o addit C~ii for l? ?O'C!, lld i~c addressed C:1rec:'~iti to
Lct ;.ed
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XTI'AC'fis I1:,'IT
nro
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an Le rn rc e
Trends
It is now apparent that the semiconductor industries in
the USSR and Eastern Eurcpe are shifting rapidly to silicon
technolcgy and from r.ermanium, althouch product mix is
Drobably still :?:eichted heavily in favor of germanium devices.
Increasingly, these countries are se-eking to purchase Western-
made e^uipment and tec nology. Poland, which already has
acquired a complete IC production capability from France, soon
will have the most modern IC industry in Eastern Europe. All
of the other East European countries apparently are bent on
following Poland's lead and would like to modernize their
industries with Western technology. Meanwhile, these countries
are working hard to i-:prove their own technology. A signifi-
cant effort to develop an indigenous `?:OS capability on the
basis of ion-implantation is undertiav in Hungary. The develop-
rent of ion-implantation techniques in Hungary is said to be
more advanced than in the USSR. H-,-ever, there is still no
evidence that Hungary can produce ':OS devices based on ion-
implantation.
On balance, the Communist countries have not made any
significant gains on the US technological lead in semiconductors.
Production is expanding, but the average quality of devices
remains suspect. Future progress in production of IC's is
likely to be most marked in Poland which is in the process of
completing the installation of French er,uipment and is now
beainnira to produce IC's in small quantities.
Integrated Circuit Devices
It is estimated that the USSR, in 1972, produced
45 million monolithic integrated circuits (IC's) ; 2-3 million
may have been orsduced in Eastern Europe (See Table 1) . Most
of the monolithics prcduced in the USSR and Eastern Europe
are RTL, DTL and T'.'L devices of SSI ccm.plexity. In addi tion,
the USSR produced an estimated 40 million hybrid IC's; 2-3
million may have been produced in Eastern Europe. Most of
T. IC.~iAL
r- r C0N'r I DLt i I L
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CoN,l~1i1L-'1 , dfiL,
these are relatively simple circuit, of the SLT type in use
in the United States in the early 1960's. There is ample
evidence that IC's (monolithic and hybrid) produced in the
USSR and Eastern Europe are of poor quality, poor reliability,
25X1 and poor performance. In the most recent. example,
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in order to produce one properly
unc ionina third-generation . AD (R-20) computer three machines
in production must be cannibalized for components.
The estimated output of IC's in the USSR was derived
by summing up estimates of output in individual production
facilities. Information on yield in individual production
facilities is practically non-existent and it is almost impossi-
ble to estimate usable output. There are reasons for believing
that usable output probably represents only a fraction of the
given estimate: first, the total is very large relative to
known civilian requirements. For example, it is estimated, at
the outside, that no more than 8 million devices would have
been needed in 1972 (10% of output) to meet all civilian
requirements (mainly computers and some calculators) . Second,
the military requirement for IC's probably is not large since
few systems are believed designed, at present, for. IC's. For
example, some military electronic systems of relatively recent
manufacture that would be good candidates for IC's are known
to contain transistors and even tubes.
The USSR has made progress during the past year in
the development of ECL devices, CMOS IC's, and TTL/MSI. In
addition, some gallium aluminum arsenide LEDs have been
fabricated. There is no evidence that any of these devices
is yet in full-scale production.
NATIONAL SECU*!ii lii U?`IN1iU~~
Untulnarii~~ C;s~: ~sare $t ~~ett W
Crcm,n5l S3,'c`-3ns.
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East Germany is the only other country i.n Eastern
Europe that claims to be producing relatively advanced semicon-
ductor production machinery. It is difficult to conclude from
these claims, which appear in the technical literature or are
implicit in the exhibit of a prototype, that these items are in
NATIONAL SECUPOY
UII3uthtmtdd :,UL;.ct to
Cfifl?~ 131 5.1:i~14uc.
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production or use. Doubts concerning actual availability are
intensified by the fa(. ,.t that East Germany is attempting to
purchase many of the i.tms that they claim to be producing.
Available (fragmenta,-y) information indicates that East German
semiconductor production equipment in use is not very good.
For example, in one case, East German diffusion furnaces were
operating so poorly that they were taken out of operation. In
another case, it has been reported that East German mask-
alignment equipment is a principle source of low yields in IC
production. Finally, East Germany is known to be experiencing
major difficulties in getting its own IC production underway
which may reflect, at least in part, deficiencies in East German
production equipment in use.
Integrated Circuit Testers
Some IC testers have been built by the USSR, East
Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. As far as can be
determined, they are relatively simple, manual, static, GO/NOGO
machines that do not compare, technologically, with Western-made
systems.
1. Native testers are copies of Western systems.
2. A large portion of the total Communist capa-
bility consists of illicitly acquired Western machines.
3. There is strong interest in obtaining Western
IC tester.,; particularly automatic systems.
4. IC testers are being built by the manufacturer
of !C's rather than by specialized producers. Moreover,
they are not believed serially produced anywhere, and
known attempts to design and build IC testers in series
have resulted in failure. For example, the Hungarians
recently built three or four test systems, designed
specifically for IC production lines, and none operated
successfully.
NATIO?t41 SE'CUniiY INFO ATION CONFJDEN k lAL
UnauLI,'cn::eJ Uisc;osuic S.ibjtct to
Cnm;c*l SJv ct'Qis.
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 Table 1
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Estimated Production of Semiconductors in the USSR and Eastern Europe, 1972
(Millions of Units)
Diodes
Total
Transistors Discrete* Hybrid Monolithic
Total
ICs
USSR
:123
Bulgaria
39.8
0.2
Czechoslovakia
74.0
2.0
East Germany
175.0
1.0
Hungary
45.0
1.0
Poland
38.5
Rumania
31.6
East Europe
403.9
5.1
1?
USSR & East
Europe
1526.9
90.1
* Does not reflect rejects by end-users, which are believed to be substantial.
NATIONAL SCCIPITY II'4c0Rt, AT10H
tlnautti3r~te..::: c; 're Subject to
Crinmat Sanctions.
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