Ceramic structures can be used to make components for energy equipment such as gas generators, solar panels, and nuclear power plants.

First, semiconductor equipment parts

Heat treatment equipment: In equipment such as wafer polishing machines, epitaxy/oxidation/diffusion, advanced ceramic materials are used as key components due to their high hardness, high wear resistance, high insulation, corrosion resistance and low expansion characteristics.

Lithography machine: In the lithography process, ceramic materials can be used to make a variety of precision components, ensuring the accuracy and stability of lithography.

Deposition equipment: Ceramic materials also play an important role in the equipment used for semiconductor thin film deposition.

Etching equipment: In the process of plasma etching, ceramic materials are widely used in the process cavity and cavity parts of the etching machine because of their good corrosion resistance and plasma etching resistance, such as window mirrors, gas dispersion disks, nozzles, insulation rings, cover plates, focusing rings and electrostatic suction cups. Among them, electrostatic sucker as an important tool to fix the wafer, has been widely replaced by the traditional mechanical chuck and vacuum sucker, although its service life is short (generally not more than two years), but the replacement volume is large, the market demand is strong.

Semiconductor packaging test field

Power semiconductor device packaging liner: Because of its high strength, high thermal conductivity, high temperature resistance and other characteristics, advanced ceramic materials become the ideal choice for power semiconductor device packaging liner.

Test probe cards: During semiconductor testing, ceramic materials can be used to make test probe cards to ensure the accuracy and stability of the test

Specific material application

Alumina (Al₂O₃) : high purity alumina ceramics have good rigidity, wear resistance, insulation, acid and alkali resistance, high temperature resistance and plasma resistance characteristics, widely used in semiconductor manufacturing equipment cavity components, insulation flanges, polishing plates, wafer clamping, carrying arms and so on.

Silicon carbide (SiC) : has high thermal conductivity, high temperature mechanical strength, high stiffness, low thermal expansion coefficient, good thermal uniformity, corrosion resistance, abrasion resistance and other characteristics, can maintain good strength at extreme temperatures up to 1400℃. Applications include XY platforms, bases, focusing rings, polishing plates, wafer clamps, vacuum suckers, handling arms, furnace tubes, crystal boats, cantilever paddles, etc.
Aluminum nitride (AlN) : has excellent thermal conductivity, heat resistance, insulation, thermal expansion coefficient close to silicon, and has excellent plasma resistance. Its applications include wafer heating heaters, static clamps and other semiconductor equipment platforms, bearings and other components.

Because of its position and importance in semiconductor equipment, advanced ceramic components must meet stringent requirements in the field of semiconductor industrialization in the following three aspects:
A. Advanced ceramic material performance: it must meet the comprehensive performance requirements of semiconductor equipment for materials in mechanical, thermal, dielectric, acid and alkali resistance and plasma corrosion.

B. Hard and brittle materials precision processing: advanced ceramic materials are hard and brittle materials, semiconductor equipment has high precision requirements for parts, and processing is always one of the bottlenecks in the application of ceramic parts in semiconductor equipment.

C. New surface treatment after processing: Because the ceramic parts in the semiconductor equipment are usually closely around the wafer, and some even directly contact the wafer, the control of metal ions and particles on the surface is extremely strict, and the surface treatment after processing is one of the key technologies for the application of ceramic parts in semiconductor equipment.