Recently, the domestic material science and technology enterprises have successfully developed a new type of silicon carbide ceramic material with purity as high as 99.999%, and this breakthrough will significantly improve the performance and reliability of semiconductor manufacturing equipment. With the semiconductor process nodes continuing to shrink, the purity of key parts and material requirements are increasingly stringent; this technological breakthrough for the upgrade of domestic semiconductor equipment provides important material support.
Technical Breakthrough Highlights:
1.Ultra-high purity control: metal impurity content is controlled to below 0.1ppm through innovative vapour phase deposition process and purification technology, meeting the requirements of 7nm and below process.
2.Excellent thermal performance: stable performance at 1000°C with thermal conductivity of 270W/m-K.
3.Excellent corrosion resistance: resistant to strong acids, strong bases and plasma corrosive environments.
Semiconductor equipment application advantages:
1.Etching equipment: used as cavity lining material to reduce metal contamination and improve etching uniformity
2.Epitaxial growth: used as trays and bases to ensure the quality of the epitaxial layer.
3.Ion implantation: Replaces traditional quartz components and extends equipment maintenance intervals.
An expert from ceramicstimes said, "Semiconductor manufacturing is moving towards finer process nodes, and high-purity silicon carbide ceramics will become a key material for next-generation equipment. This breakthrough will effectively reduce China's dependence on imported materials for semiconductor equipment."
Currently, the material has passed the verification tests of major domestic semiconductor equipment manufacturers and is expected to achieve mass production in the fourth quarter of 2024. With the rapid development of emerging technologies such as 5G and artificial intelligence, the market demand for high-purity silicon carbide ceramics will continue to grow, and it is expected that by 2026 the global market size will exceed 5 billion yuan.
Business Dynamics:
ceramicstimes invested 500 million yuan to build a special production line, the completion of the project annual production capacity of up to 200,000 pieces, will effectively meet the needs of domestic semiconductor equipment manufacturers. At the same time, the enterprise is working with a number of research institutes to further optimise the material properties, to develop more semiconductor equipment special parts solutions.
This technological breakthrough not only fills the blank of domestic high-purity silicon carbide ceramics, more independent control of China's semiconductor equipment provides an important material guarantee, will strongly promote the localisation process of the semiconductor industry chain.
