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Ⅰ Characteristics of the semiconductor material industry
Ⅱ Classification of semiconductor materials
Materials and equipment are the cornerstones of the semiconductor industry and the engine that drives innovation in integrated circuit technology. A generation of technology relies on a generation of processes, and a generation of processes relies on a generation of materials and equipment to achieve.
Semiconductor materials are in the upstream link of the entire semiconductor industry chain and play an important supporting role in the development of the semiconductor industry.
Semiconductor materials are mainly divided into wafer fabrication materials and packaging materials. According to SEMI, global semiconductor material sales in were US$46.9 billion, an increase of 9.6%, of which the sales of wafer fabrication materials and packaging materials were US$27.8 billion and US$19.1 billion, respectively, a year-on-year growth rate of 12.7% and 5.4%. In , global semiconductor material sales reached US$51.9 billion, an increase of 10.6%, exceeding the historical high of US$47.1 billion in , of which the sales of wafer fabrication materials and packaging materials were US$32.2 billion and US$19.7 billion, respectively, a year-on-year growth rate. 15.9% and 3.0%, respectively.
In , the size of the global semiconductor wafer manufacturing materials market grew in tandem with the size of the global semiconductor market. According to the statistics of WSTS and SEMI, the global semiconductor wafer manufacturing material market accounted for about 7% of the global semiconductor market from to .
The semiconductor material industry is the industry chain link with the largest number of subdivisions in the semiconductor industry chain. Among them, wafer manufacturing materials include silicon wafers, photomasks, photoresists, photoresist auxiliary materials, process chemicals, electronic special gases, CMP polishing materials (polishing liquid and polishing pad), and other materials. Packaging materials include lead frames, packaging substrates, ceramic substrates, bonding wires, packaging materials, die-attach materials, and other packaging materials, each of which is a large category of materials. It also includes dozens or even hundreds of specific products, and there are hundreds of sub-molecular industries.
Since there are many sub-sectors in the semiconductor material industry, and different sub-industries have great differences in technology, the industry leaders of each sub-industry of the semiconductor material industry are different. From the perspective of the competition pattern of the semiconductor material industry, the global semiconductor material industry is still dominated by manufacturers such as the United States and Japan.
Semiconductor wafer fabrication materials and wafer fabrication capacity are inextricably linked. The global semiconductor industry has an obvious trend of shifting to mainland China, and mainland China has ushered in a wave of the factory building.
According to SEMI, 62 FABs had been put into operation in the world from to , of which 26 fabs will come from mainland China, accounting for about 42%. According to SEMI's China Semiconductor Silicon Wafer Outlook report, China's fab capacity is expected to grow from 2.3 million wafers per month (Wpm) in to 4 million wafers in , with a CAGR of 12% per year, which is higher than other All regions are growing faster. According to IC Insights, as China's IC design companies grow, so does the demand for foundry services in China.
Global Regional Wafer Capacity in December
At the end of , mainland China accounted for 15.3% of global production capacity, almost on par with Japan. In , the proportion of wafer production capacity in mainland China exceeded that of Europe for the first time.
IC Insights expects mainland China to be the only region to increase its percentage share of capacity between and (up around 3.7 percentage points). While the start of large new DRAM and NAND fabs dominated by mainland China is expected to soften, memory makers headquartered in other countries and local semiconductor makers will also have a lot of wafer capacity coming into China in the coming years.
The semiconductor industry chain can be roughly divided into three main links: equipment, materials, design, and other upstream links, midstream wafer manufacturing, and downstream packaging and testing.
semiconductor industry chain
Semiconductor materials are a very important link in the upstream link of the industrial chain, and play a key role in the production of chips.
According to the semiconductor chip manufacturing process, semiconductor materials can generally be divided into three major materials: substrate, manufacturing, and packaging.
According to different chip materials, it is divided into silicon wafers and compound semiconductors. Among them, silicon wafers are the most widely used and are the most important raw materials in the manufacturing process of integrated circuits.
All silicon wafers are made of single-crystal silicon wafers, and the purity of silicon materials is relatively high. Generally, the purity of silicon wafers is required to be above 99.% (9N), which is much higher than that of photovoltaic-grade silicon wafers.
First, single crystal silicon pillars are prepared from silicon material, and single crystal silicon wafers are obtained after cutting. Generally, they can be divided into 6-18 inches according to different sizes. The current mainstream sizes are 8 inches (200mm) and 12 inches (300mm). 18 inches ( 450mm) is not expected to gradually increase its market share until at least .
The world's leading companies are mainly Shin-Etsu Chemical, SUMCO, Universal Wafer, Silitronic, LG, and other companies.
Compound semiconductors mainly refer to the second and third-generation semiconductors such as gallium arsenide (GaAs), gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC). Compared with the first-generation elemental semiconductors (such as semiconductors formed by silicon (Si), germanium (Ge), etc.), they are much better in high-frequency performance and high-temperature performance.
Among the three major compound semiconductor materials, GaAs accounts for the majority, mainly used in the field of communications, with a global market capacity of nearly 10 billion US dollars; GaN has better high-power and high-frequency performance and is mainly used in the military field, with a current market capacity of less than 1 billion US dollars. As the cost decreases, it is expected to usher in a wide range of applications. SiC is mainly used as a high-power semiconductor material, usually used in automobiles and industrial power electronics, and is widely used in the field of high-power conversion.
Polishing materials can generally be divided into polishing pads, polishing liquids, conditioners, and cleaners, of which the first two are the most critical. The material of the polishing pad is generally polyurethane or polyester with saturated polyurethane, and the polishing liquid is generally composed of ultra-fine solid particle abrasives (such as nano-scale silica, alumina particles, etc.), etc.
The global polishing pad market is almost monopolized by Dow, while the polishing liquid market is dominated by companies such as Fujimi and Hinomoto Kenmazai in Japan, Cabot, DuPont, Rodel, EKA in the United States, and ACE in South Korea.
The mask, also known as a reticle, photomask, and lithography reticle, is the carrier of the design pattern in the lithography process of semiconductor chips. Through lithography and etching, the pattern is transferred to the silicon wafer.
The main companies that produce masks in the world are TOPAN in Japan, Dainippon Printing, HOYA, SK Electronics, and Photronic in the United States.
Wet electronic chemicals, also commonly referred to as ultra-clean and high-purity reagents, refer to various high-purity chemical reagents used in semiconductor manufacturing processes.
The global market is mainly dominated by European, American, and Japanese companies, including BASF and HenKel in Germany, Ashland, APM, Honeywell, ATMI, Airproducts in the United States, Sumitomo Chemical in Japan, Ube Industries, Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Nagase Sangyo, and Mitsubishi chemical companies.
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Electronic special gas refers to various special gases that need to be used in the preparation process of semiconductor chips. According to the chemical composition of the gas, it can be divided into general gas and special gas. In addition, it can also be divided into doping gas, epitaxy gas, ion implantation gas, light-emitting diode gas, etching gas, chemical vapor deposition gas, and balance gas according to the application.
The world's leading electronic special gas companies are mainly Air Chemicals and Praxair in the United States, Air Liquide in France, Linde Group, and Dayo Nippon Sour in Japan.
The photoresist is a pattern transfer medium, which uses the difference in solubility after light reaction to transfer the mask pattern to the substrate. At present, it is widely used in the processing and production of fine pattern circuits in the optoelectronic information industry and is a key material in the field of electronic manufacturing.
The photoresist is generally composed of a photosensitive agent (photoinitiator), photosensitive resin, solvent, and auxiliary agent, of which photoinitiator is the core component, which plays a decisive role in the sensitivity and resolution of photoresist.
Photoresists can be divided into positive photoresists and negative photoresists according to the different chemical reactions.
The lithography process accounts for about 35% of the entire chip manufacturing cost, and the time-consuming process accounts for 40-60% of the entire chip process. It is the core process in semiconductor manufacturing.
The global photoresist market is mainly monopolized by companies from countries and regions such as Europe, America, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.
The unit device of a semiconductor chip is composed of a substrate, an insulating layer, a dielectric layer, a conductor layer, and a protective layer, among which, the dielectric layer, the conductor layer, and even the protective layer all use a sputtering coating process.
Coating targets in the field of integrated circuits mainly include aluminum targets, titanium targets, copper targets, tantalum targets, tungsten-titanium targets, etc. The targets are required to be of high purity, generally above 5N (99.999%).
The world's leading companies for sputtering targets are Honeywell and Praxair in the United States, Nippon Mining Metals, Sumitomo Chemical, Alpha Branch, Mitsui Mining, and Tosoh in Japan.
Semiconductor packaging refers to the process of processing the tested wafers according to the product model and functional requirements to obtain independent chips. The materials used in the entire packaging process mainly include chip bonding materials, ceramic packaging materials, bonding wires, lead frames, packaging substrates, and cutting materials.
The chip bonding material is a material that uses bonding technology to realize the connection between the die and the base or the package substrate. In terms of physical and chemical properties, it must meet the requirements of high mechanical strength, stable chemical properties, electrical and thermal conductivity, low curing temperature, and strong operability.
The main bonding technologies in practical applications include silver paste bonding technology, low melting point glass bonding technology, conductive adhesive bonding technology, epoxy resin bonding technology, and eutectic welding technology.
Epoxy resin is a widely used bonding material, but the surface of the chip and the basic material of the package show different hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties. Plasma treatment is required on the surface to improve the fluidity of the epoxy resin on the surface.
Ceramic packaging materials are a type of electronic packaging materials used to carry functions such as mechanical support, environmental sealing, and heat dissipation of electronic components.
Compared with metal encapsulation materials and plastic encapsulation materials, ceramic encapsulation materials have good moisture resistance, good linear expansion rate and thermal conductivity, and extremely stable electrical, thermal and mechanical properties, but high processing costs and high brittleness.
At present, the ceramic substrate materials used in actual production and development mainly include Al2O3, BeO and AIN, etc. In terms of thermal conductivity, BeO and AIN substrates can meet the requirements of natural cooling. Al2O3 is the most widely used ceramic material, and BeO has certain Toxic and side effects, AIN with excellent performance will gradually replace the other two ceramic packaging materials.
The world's leading companies are mainly Japanese companies, such as Japan's Kyocera, Sumitomo Chemical, NTK, and so on.
The packaging substrate is the largest part of the packaging material, and it mainly plays the role of carrying the protection chip and connecting the upper chip and the lower circuit board.
The packaging substrate can protect, fix, and support the chip, enhance the thermal conductivity and heat dissipation performance of the chip, and can also connect the chip and the printed circuit board to achieve electrical and physical connection, power distribution, signal distribution, and communication between the internal and external circuits of the chip and other functions.
Packaging substrates can usually be divided into three types: organic, inorganic, and composite substrates, each with its own advantages and disadvantages in different packaging fields.
The organic substrate has a low dielectric constant is easy to process, and is suitable for high-frequency signal transmission that does not require high thermal conductivity; the non-polar substrate is supported by inorganic ceramics, which has good heat resistance, easy wiring, and dimensional stability, but there are certain restrictions on cost and material toxicity; The composite substrate is to composite different organic and inorganic materials according to different needs and characteristics.
In the future, organic and composite substrates are expected to be the mainstream substrate materials.
The world's leading packaging substrate companies are mainly Japan's Ibiden, Kobelco and Kyocera, South Korea's Samsung Electromechanical, Xintai Electronics and Dade Electronics, UMTC in Taiwan, China, Nanya Circuits, Jingshuo Technology, and other companies.
The bonding wire for semiconductors is used to weld and connect the chip and the bracket, and it undertakes the key electrical connection function between the chip and the outside world. The material of the bonding wire has gradually developed from a single material in the past to a variety of products composed of gold, silver, copper, and aluminum-related composite materials.
The leading companies in the global semiconductor bonding wire are mainly Japan's Heraeus, Tanaka Precious Metals, and Nippon Steel.
As the chip carrier of the semiconductor, the lead frame is a key structural component that realizes the electrical connection between the terminal of the internal circuit of the chip and the external circuit (PCB) by means of bonding wires and forms an electrical circuit. The lead frame acts as a bridge to connect with external wires. Most of the semiconductors need to use the lead frame, which is an important basic material in the electronic information industry.
The usual types of lead frames are TO, DIP, SIP, SOP, SSOP, QFP, QFN, SOD, SOT, etc., which are mainly produced by die stamping and etching.
Semiconductor wafer cutting is an important process in the semiconductor chip manufacturing process. It belongs to the subsequent process in wafer manufacturing. The entire wafer with the chip is cut into a single chip well according to the size of the chip, which is called chip cutting and division.
The current mainstream cutting methods are divided into two categories, one is cutting with a dicing system, and the other is cutting with a laser. Among them, dicing system cutting mainly includes mortar cutting and diamond material cutting. This technology started early and has a large market share. Diamond saw blade or diamond wire is such a common dicing system cutting tool, but the mechanical force incision is large, which is easy to cause the Wafer to break. Laser cutting is a new type of non-contact cutting, and the cutting surface is smooth and flat, which is suitable for different types of wafer cutting.
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