① The preferred material for precision components of photolithography machines

In the semiconductor field, silicon carbide ceramic materials are mainly used in key equipment for integrated circuit manufacturing, such as silicon carbide workpiece tables, guide rails, reflectors, ceramic suction cups, arms, grinding discs, fixtures, etc. for photolithography machines.

Silicon carbide ceramic components for semiconductors and opto-mechanical equipment

● Silicon carbide ceramic grinding disc. If the grinding disc is made of cast iron or carbon steel, its service life is short and its thermal expansion coefficient is large. During the processing of silicon wafers, especially during high-speed grinding or polishing, due to the wear and thermal deformation of the grinding disc, the flatness and flatness of the silicon wafer will deteriorate. Parallelism is difficult to guarantee. The grinding disc using silicon carbide ceramics has low wear due to its high hardness, and its thermal expansion coefficient is basically the same as that of the silicon wafer, so it can be grinded and polished at high speed.

● Silicon carbide ceramic fixture. In addition, when silicon wafers are produced, they need to undergo high-temperature heat treatment. Silicon carbide fixtures are often used for transportation. They are heat-resistant and non-destructive. Coatings such as diamond-like carbon (DLC) can be applied on the surface to enhance performance, alleviate wafer damage, and prevent Contamination spreads.

● Silicon carbide workpiece table. Take the workpiece stage in a lithography machine as an example. The workpiece stage is mainly responsible for completing the exposure movement, which requires high-speed, large-stroke, and six-degree-of-freedom nanoscale ultra-precision movement, such as 100nm resolution, overlay accuracy of 33nm, and line width. For a 10nm lithography machine, the workpiece stage positioning accuracy is required to reach 10nm, the mask-wafer simultaneous stepping and scanning speeds reach 150nm/s and 120n/s respectively, the mask scanning speed is close to 500nm/s, and the workpiece stage is required It has very high movement accuracy and smoothness.

Schematic diagram of workpiece table and micro-motion table (partial section)

② The $100 billion semiconductor equipment market will drive the development of silicon carbide ceramic materials

According to data from SEMI International Semiconductor Industry Association, the construction of wafer fabs has pushed the total sales of semiconductor equipment to exceed the US$100 billion mark for two consecutive years. In 2022, the total sales of global semiconductor equipment will be approximately US$108.5 billion. A semiconductor device seems to be made of metal and plastic, but in fact there are many precision ceramic components with high technical content hidden inside. Precision ceramics are used in semiconductor equipment far more than we imagine.

Application of silicon carbide ceramics in photovoltaic field

① It is a key carrier material in the production process of photovoltaic cells

Among silicon carbide structural ceramics, silicon carbide boats have enjoyed rapid development in the photovoltaic industry and have become a good choice for key carrier materials in the photovoltaic cell production process. Its market demand has attracted increasing attention from the industry.

At present, quartz boat supports, boat boxes, pipe fittings, etc. are commonly used. However, due to the limitations of domestic and international high-purity quartz sand sources, the production capacity is small. High-purity quartz sand has the characteristics of tight supply and demand and long-term high prices. Short service life. Compared with quartz materials, silicon carbide materials have good thermal stability such as boat holders, boat boxes, and pipe fittings. They do not deform when used at high temperatures and have no harmful precipitated pollutants. As an excellent alternative material for quartz products, the service life can reach more than 1 year. , can significantly reduce the cost of use and the loss of production capacity caused by maintenance and repair line shutdowns. The cost advantage is obvious, and its application prospects as a vehicle in the photovoltaic field are broad.

② Can be used as heat absorber material in solar power generation system

The tower solar thermal power generation system is highly praised in solar power generation because of its characteristics of high concentration ratio (200~1000kW/㎡), high thermal cycle temperature, small heat loss, simple system and high efficiency. As the core component of tower solar thermal power generation, the heat absorber needs to withstand radiation intensity 200-300 times stronger than natural light, and the working temperature can be as high as more than 1,000 degrees Celsius. Therefore, its performance is very important for the stable operation and efficiency of the thermal power generation system. important. The working temperature of traditional metal material heat absorbers is limited, making porcelain heat absorbers a new research hotspot. Alumina ceramics, cordierite ceramics, and silicon carbide ceramics are often used as heat absorber materials.

Solar thermal power station heat absorption tower

Among them, silicon carbide ceramics have excellent properties such as high strength, large specific surface area, corrosion resistance, oxidation resistance, good thermal insulation, thermal shock resistance and high temperature resistance. Compared with alumina and cordierite ceramic heat absorber materials Has better high temperature performance. Using a heat absorber made of sintered silicon carbide allows the heat absorber to achieve an outlet air temperature of up to 1200°C without material damage.

③ The photovoltaic industry is booming and silicon carbide ceramic materials have a continuously growing market size.

At present, the penetration rate of photovoltaics in the world's major economies continues to increase. Driven by policy guidance and market demand in various countries, as the photovoltaic industry's electricity cost has dropped significantly, photovoltaic power generation has become the most economical power energy in the world. According to IEA forecasts , between 2020 and 2030, the installed photovoltaic capacity will grow at a CAGR of 21% to close to 5TW, and the proportion of photovoltaic in global power installations will increase from 9.5% to 33.2%. In 2022, global photovoltaic manufacturing capacity will increase by more than 70%, reaching nearly 450GW.

The high stability and mechanical properties of silicon carbide ceramics have expanded its application scope. As domestic and foreign industries have increasingly stringent requirements for high-precision, high-wear resistance, and high-reliability mechanical components or electronic components, silicon carbide The ceramic product market has huge development potential.