Silicon Carbide Ceramics: Precision Components Essential for Semiconductor Processes (Part 1)
Silicon carbide (SiC), as a high-performance structural ceramic material, possesses characteristics such as high density, high thermal conductivity, high bending strength, large elastic modulus, strong corrosion resistance, and high-temperature resistance. It is less prone to deformation due to bending stress or thermal strain, making it suitable for harsh corrosive and ultra-high-temperature environments encountered in semiconductor processes like wafer epitaxy, etching, and beyond. Consequently, it has found widespread applications in processes such as grinding and polishing, thermal treatments like epitaxy/oxidation/diffusion, lithography, deposition, etching, and ion implantation in semiconductor manufacturing.
Grinding Process
• Silicon Carbide Grinding Wheel Grains
SiC Grinding Wheel for Wafer Grinding
After cutting ingots into wafers, sharp edges, burrs, cracks, or other defects often occur. To avoid the adverse effects on wafer strength, surface finish, and contamination from particles in subsequent processes, wafers need to be ground to reduce thickness, improve wafer surface flatness, and eliminate surface damage caused by wire cutting. Currently, the most common method is double-sided grinding using grinding wheels, with efforts to enhance grinding quality by optimizing grinding parameters such as wheel material, grinding pressure, and rotation speed.
The Principle of Double-Sided Grinding
Traditionally, grinding wheels were predominantly made of cast iron or carbon steel, characterized by short lifespans and significant thermal expansion coefficients. However, with the development of wear-resistant SiC ceramic materials and sintering processes, SiC grinding wheels have gradually replaced cast iron and carbon steel ones due to their high hardness, low wear, and similar thermal expansion coefficients to silicon wafers, offering significant advantages, especially in high-speed grinding and polishing processes.
Silicon Carbide Grinding Wheel
Thermal Treatment and Other Processes
• Silicon Carbide Fixtures and Components Inside Reaction Chambers
SiC Fixtures and Components in Reaction Chambers Wafer manufacturing involves various thermal processes such as oxidation, diffusion, annealing, and alloying, which require SiC ceramic products for wafer transportation between processes and components within thermal processing equipment.
Ceramic Arms
In semiconductor wafer production, high-temperature heat treatment is necessary, often using mechanical arms for transporting, handling, and positioning semiconductor wafers. These arms need to possess high mechanical strength, corrosion resistance, high-temperature resistance, wear resistance, high hardness, and insulation, as they operate in clean, high-speed, and often corrosive environments such as vacuum, high temperatures, and reactive gases. Compared to alumina, SiC ceramic arms better meet these requirements, but their high cost and processing difficulties have somewhat limited their applications.
Components in Reaction Chambers
Semiconductor equipment for thermal processing includes oxidation furnaces (horizontal and vertical) and Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP) equipment. Due to high operating temperatures, components inside reaction chambers require high performance. High-purity sintered SiC components, including vertical boats, pedestals, liner tubes, inner tubes, and baffle plates, are indispensable for integrated circuit thermal processing equipment.
Components Inside Reaction Chambers
To be continue....
XIAMEN MASCERA TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. is a reputable and reliable supplier specializing in manufacturing and sales of technical ceramic parts. We provide custom production and high precision machining for a wide series of high performance ceramic materials including alumina ceramic, zirconia ceramic, silicon nitride, silicon carbide, boron nitride, aluminum nitride and machinable glass ceramic. Currently, our ceramic parts can be found in many industries like mechanical, chemical, medical, semiconductor, vehicle, electronic, metallurgy etc. Our mission is to provide the best quality ceramic parts for global users and it is a big pleasure to see our ceramic parts work efficiently in customers' specific applications. We can cooperate on both prototype and mass production, welcome to contact us if you have demands.
