Various applications of quartz in semiconductor manufacturing

At first glance, quartz (SiO2) material looks very similar to glass, but what is special is that ordinary glass is composed of many components (such as quartz sand, borax, boric acid, barite, barium carbonate, limestone, feldspar, soda ash, etc.), while quartz only contains SiO2, and its microstructure is a simple network composed of silicon dioxide tetrahedral structural units.

Because the amount of metal impurities contained in quartz is very small and its purity is extremely high, quartz itself has characteristics and advantages that other glasses cannot show, and is known as the "crown" of glass materials. For example, in terms of heat resistance, quartz will not explode even if it is immediately placed in water after being burned red in the fire. More specific advantages are as follows:

1. High temperature resistance. The softening point of quartz glass is about 1730℃, and it can be used for a long time at 1150℃, and the maximum temperature can reach 1450℃ for a short time.

2. Corrosion resistance. Except for hydrofluoric acid, high-purity quartz has almost no chemical reaction with other acid substances. At high temperatures, it can resist corrosion from sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, aqua regia, neutral salts, carbon and sulfur. Its acid resistance is 30 times that of ceramics and 150 times that of stainless steel. Especially its chemical stability at high temperatures is unmatched by any other engineering materials.

3. Good thermal stability. High-purity quartz has a very small thermal expansion coefficient and can withstand drastic temperature changes. When high-purity quartz is heated to about 1100°C, it will not explode when placed in room temperature water.

4. Good light transmittance. High-purity quartz has good light transmittance in the entire spectrum from ultraviolet to infrared, and the visible light transmittance is above 93%, especially in the ultraviolet spectrum region, the maximum transmittance can reach more than 80%.

5. Good electrical insulation performance. The resistance value of high-purity quartz is equivalent to 10,000 times that of ordinary quartz glass. It is an excellent electrical insulation material and has good electrical properties even at high temperatures.

Thanks to these excellent physical and chemical properties, high-purity quartz materials are widely used in modern electronic technology, semiconductors, communications, electric light sources, solar energy, high-precision national defense measurement instruments, laboratory physical and chemical instruments, nuclear energy, nano-industry, etc. In particular, in the rapidly developing semiconductor industry, the scale of silicon wafers has been increasing, so chip manufacturers have a great demand for various quartz components. However, it should also be noted that in order to prevent contamination during the processing process, the high purity of the quartz material must be ensured during use.

In the semiconductor industry, quartz is widely used, and high-purity quartz products are important consumables in wafer production. Quartz parts such as crucibles, crystal boats, and diffusion furnace core tubes used to produce silicon single crystals must use high-purity quartz glass products. The main target market application of quartz parts in the semiconductor field is the diffusion and etching process in wafer foundry. They can be divided into two categories: high-temperature zone devices and low-temperature zone devices. The main devices used are as follows:

1. High-temperature zone devices are mainly furnace tubes, glass boats, etc. used in diffusion oxidation and other links, which need to be directly or indirectly in contact with silicon wafers in a high-temperature environment; they are mainly purchased fused quartz glass materials and produced through thermal processing;

2. Low-temperature zone devices mainly include quartz rings used in the etching process, as well as flower baskets and cleaning tanks used in the cleaning process. They are mainly used in low-temperature environments. They mainly purchase gas-refined quartz glass and are produced through cold processing.

Semicorex offers high-quality quartz parts in semiconductor level. If you have any inquiries or need additional details, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us.

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