In the semiconductor industry, semiconductor manufacturing equipment is a problem in our country, and it is also a key industry to encourage development. In recent years, with the adjustment of national policies, the semiconductor industry has developed rapidly, the scale of the industry has increased rapidly, semiconductor manufacturing equipment has continued to evolve to precision and complexity, and the technical requirements for key components of high-precision ceramics have become higher and higher.

As a key component of semiconductor production equipment, the development and production of precision ceramic components directly affects the development of semiconductor equipment manufacturing industry and even the entire semiconductor industry chain. It can be said that precision ceramic components are the foundation of the entire semiconductor industry. Therefore, no matter from the perspective of economic security or industrial cost, in order to break through the "stuck neck" dilemma faced by China's semiconductor industry, we must pay attention to the localization of key components of semiconductor production equipment such as precision ceramic components.

Application of 1. Precision Ceramics in Semiconductors

Semiconductor devices require a large number of precision ceramic parts. Because ceramics have the advantages of high hardness, high elastic modulus, high wear resistance, high insulation, corrosion resistance, low expansion, etc., it can be used as silicon wafer polishing machine, epitaxial/oxidation/diffusion and other heat treatment equipment, lithography machine, deposition equipment, semiconductor etching equipment, ion injection machine and other equipment components. Semiconductor ceramics include alumina, silicon nitride, aluminum nitride, silicon carbide, etc. In semiconductor equipment, the value of precision ceramics accounts for about 16%.
1. Alumina (Al?O?)

Alumina is the most widely used precision ceramic material in semiconductor equipment. It has the advantages of stable material structure, high mechanical strength, high hardness, high melting point, corrosion resistance, excellent chemical stability, high resistivity, good electrical insulation performance, etc., and is widely used in semiconductor equipment.
In semiconductor etching equipment, the material of the etching machine chamber is the main source of wafer contamination, and the degree of influence of plasma etching on it determines the yield, quality, stability of the etching process, and so on. Therefore, the selection of the material of the etching machine chamber is particularly important. At present, high-purity Al?O? coating or Al?O? ceramics are mainly used as protective materials for etching cavities and internal parts of cavities. In addition to the chamber, the gas nozzle of the plasma equipment, the gas distribution plate and the fixing ring for fixing the wafer also need to use alumina ceramics.

In the handling of wafer silicon wafers, ceramic mechanical arms made of alumina ceramics will be applied. Both alumina ceramics and silicon carbide ceramics have the physical properties of compactness, high hardness and high wear resistance, as well as good heat resistance and excellent mechanical strength. High temperature environment still has good insulation, good corrosion resistance and other physical properties. From the perspective of material properties, silicon carbide ceramics are more suitable for making ceramic mechanical arms, but from the economic aspects of material price and processing difficulty, alumina ceramic mechanical arms are more cost-effective.
In addition, in the wafer polishing process, alumina ceramics can be widely used in polishing plates, polishing pad correction platforms, vacuum chucks, etc.
2. Silicon Carbide (SiC)

Silicon carbide has high thermal conductivity, high temperature mechanical strength, high stiffness, low thermal expansion coefficient, good thermal uniformity, corrosion resistance, wear resistance, etc. Silicon carbide maintains good strength at extreme temperatures up to 1400°C. The abrasive disc using the silicon carbide ceramic has low wear due to its high hardness, and the thermal expansion coefficient is substantially the same as that of a silicon wafer, so that it can be polished at a high speed.

In the production of silicon wafers, the need for high-temperature heat treatment, often using silicon carbide fixture transport, its heat-resistant, non-destructive, can be coated on the surface of the diamond-like carbon (DLC) and other coatings, can enhance performance, ease the wafer damage, while preventing the spread of contamination. In addition, silicon carbide ceramics can also be used in XY platform, base, focus ring, polishing plate, wafer chuck, vacuum chuck, handling arm, furnace tube, crystal boat, cantilever paddle, etc.
3. Aluminum nitride (AIN)

High purity aluminum nitride ceramic has excellent thermal conductivity, heat resistance, insulation, thermal expansion coefficient close to silicon, and has excellent plasma resistance, product heat distribution. It can be applied to a heater for wafer heating, an electrostatic chuck, etc.

4. Silicon Nitride (Si3N4)

Silicon nitride (Si3N4) is a material with high fracture toughness, high thermal shock resistance, high wear resistance, high mechanical strength, and corrosion resistance. It can be applied to components such as platforms and bearings of semiconductor devices.
Development Status of 2. Precision Ceramics at Home and Abroad

1, the semiconductor equipment market will exceed 100 billion U.S. dollars, ceramic components accounted for more than 10% of the cost.

Recently, the U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said that global chip sales will reach a record $555.9 billion billion in 2021, up 26.2 percent from the previous year. The association expects global chip sales to grow by 8.8 percent in 2022 as chipmakers continue to expand capacity to meet demand.

The rapid development of the semiconductor market has brought the upstream equipment market.
It is understood that fab equipment spending is expected to continue to grow in 2022, following year-on-year growth of 17% in 2020 and 39% in 2021. SEMI (International Semiconductor Industry Association) pointed out that in 2022, the global front-end fab equipment (excluding packaging and testing of the front-end process equipment, generally wafer manufacturing equipment) expenditure is expected to exceed $98 billion, reaching a record high, the third consecutive year to achieve growth.
Precision ceramics have become a key component of semiconductor equipment, accounting for more than 10% of the cost.
In the high-end lithography machine, in order to achieve high process accuracy, it is necessary to widely use ceramic parts with good functional compounding, structural stability, thermal stability, dimensional accuracy, such as E-chuck, Vacumm-chuck, Block, magnetic steel skeleton water cooling plate, mirror, guide rail, etc., these key components generally use precision ceramic materials.

In the etching equipment, the material of the etching machine chamber is the main source of wafer contamination, and the degree of influence of plasma etching on it determines the yield, quality and stability of the etching process of the wafer. Therefore, the research and development of an extremely etch-resistant cavity material has become a challenging task in the semiconductor integration industry and plasma etching technology. At present, high-purity Al?O? coating or Al?O? ceramics are mainly used as protective materials for etching cavities and internal parts of cavities. In addition to the chamber, the gas nozzle of the plasma equipment, the gas distribution plate and the fixed ring of the wafer also need to use precision ceramics.
A semiconductor device seems to be made of metal and plastic, but there are many precision ceramic parts with high technical content hidden inside. In short, the application of precision ceramics in semiconductor equipment is far more than we thought.