The "core strength" of semiconductor equipment - silicon carbide parts

2024-11-04

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a kind of structural ceramic material with excellent properties. Silicon carbide parts, that is, equipment parts with silicon carbide and its composite material as the main material, with high density, high thermal conductivity, high bending strength, large elastic modulus and other characteristics, can adapt to the wafer epitaxy, etching and other manufacturing links of strong corrosion, ultra-high temperature harsh reaction environment. Therefore, it is widely used in epitaxial growth equipment, etching equipment, oxidation/diffusion/annealing equipment and other major semiconductor equipment.

According to the crystal structure, there are many silicon carbide crystal types, and the current common SiC is mainly 3C, 4H and 6H type, and the SiC uses of different crystal types are different. Among them, 3C-SiC is also commonly known as β-SiC, an important use of β-SiC is used as film and coating materials, therefore, the current β-SiC is the main material for graphite base coating.

According to the preparation process, silicon carbide parts can be divided into chemical vapor deposition silicon carbide (CVD SiC), reaction sintered silicon carbide, recrystallization sintered silicon carbide, atmospheric pressure sintered silicon carbide, hot pressed sintered silicon carbide, hot isostatic pressing sintered silicon carbide and so on.

Among the many preparation methods of silicon carbide materials, the product prepared by chemical vapor deposition has high uniformity and purity, and the method has strong process control. CVD silicon carbide materials have a unique combination of excellent thermal, electrical and chemical properties, making them ideal for applications in the semiconductor industry where high performance materials are required.

Silicon carbide parts market size

01CVD Silicon Carbide parts

CVD silicon carbide parts are widely used in etching equipment, MOCVD equipment and SiC epitaxial equipment, rapid heat treatment equipment and other fields.

Etching equipment: The largest market segment for CVD silicon carbide parts is etching equipment. CVD silicon carbide components in etching equipment include focusing rings, gas spray heads, trays, edge rings, etc. Due to the low reactivity and conductivity of CVD silicon carbide to chlorine and fluorine etching gases, it becomes an ideal material for plasma etching equipment focusing rings and other components.

Graphite base coating: Low pressure chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is the most effective process for preparing dense SiC coating, and the thickness of CVD-sic coating is controllable and has the advantages of uniformity. SiC coated graphite base is often used in metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) equipment to support and heat single crystal substrate components, MOCVD equipment is the core of the key components.

According to QY Research, the global CVD silicon carbide parts market revenue reached $813 million in 2022 and is expected to reach $1.432 billion in 2028, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.61%.

At present, the localization rate of silicon carbide parts for semiconductor equipment in China is low, local manufacturers started late, and the whole is in a state of catching up with foreign countries. According to QY Research data, in 2022, the market share of the top five manufacturers in the global market of CVD silicon carbide components exceeds 60%, and Zhorange Semiconductor ranks eighth in the world with a market share of 3.57%, which is the only Chinese manufacturer among the top ten manufacturers.

02 Reaction sintered silicon carbide parts
For reactive sintered (reactive melting or reactive bonding) SiC materials, the shrinkage of the sintering line can be controlled below 1%, while the sintering temperature is relatively low, which greatly reduces the requirements for deformation control and sintering equipment. Therefore, this technology has the advantage of easy to realize the large size of components, and has been widely used in the field of optics and precision structure manufacturing

Some high-performance optical components in the key manufacturing equipment of integrated circuits, such as photoengraving machines, have harsh requirements for material preparation. The method of reacting-sintered silicon carbide matrix combined with chemical vapor deposition silicon carbide (CVDSiC) film is used to prepare high-performance mirrors. By optimizing the precursor type, deposition temperature, deposition pressure, reaction gas ratio, gas flow field, temperature field and other key process parameters, the preparation of large area and uniform CVD SiC film can be realized, so that the mirror surface accuracy can be close to the performance index of similar foreign products.

At present, foreign companies in the research and development and application of precision ceramic structural parts for integrated circuit core equipment are at the forefront of Japan's Kyocera, the United States CoorsTek, Germany BERLINER GLAS, etc., among which Kyocera and CoorsTek companies occupy 70% of the market share of high-end precision ceramic structural parts for integrated circuit core equipment.

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