Silicon carbide ceramics have become a key material in semiconductor manufacturing due to their excellent properties, such as high density, high thermal conductivity, high bending strength, high elastic modulus, strong corrosion resistance, and high temperature resistance. It is not easy to produce bending stress deformation and thermal strain, and can adapt to the harsh reaction environment of strong corrosion and ultra-high temperature in the manufacturing process such as wafer epitaxy and etching. Therefore, silicon carbide ceramics have been widely used in semiconductor processes such as grinding and polishing, epitaxy/oxidation/diffusion and other heat treatments, photolithography, deposition, etching, and ion implantation.
In the grinding process of wafers, the use of silicon carbide grinding discs is crucial. The sharp edges and defects formed after wafer cutting need to be trimmed through the grinding process to reduce the thickness of the wafer, improve the parallelism of the silicon wafer surface, and eliminate the surface damage caused by the wire cutting process. Silicon carbide grinding discs show outstanding advantages in high-speed grinding and polishing due to their high hardness, low wear, and basically the same thermal expansion coefficient as silicon wafers. In the wafer manufacturing process, heat treatment processes such as oxidation, diffusion, annealing, and alloying are also inseparable from silicon carbide ceramic products. These products include silicon carbide ceramic arms for handling wafers and components in the reaction chamber of heat treatment equipment. In the production of silicon wafers, robotic arms are often used to transport, transport, and position semiconductor wafers during high-temperature heat treatment. In the application of photolithography machines, silicon carbide ceramics are also important. They are used for worktables, ceramic square mirrors, and mask films. The worktable of the photolithography machine is responsible for carrying the wafer and completing the exposure movement, while the ceramic square mirror is an important part of the worktable scanning positioning feedback measurement system. The mask film is used to protect the mask from heat damage generated by EUV light irradiation.
In addition, CVD silicon carbide components in etching equipment include focus rings, gas shower heads, trays, edge rings, etc., while deposition equipment includes chamber covers, cavity liners, SiC-coated graphite bases, etc.
