Electronics

Among semiconductor materials, electron gases are the second largest market demand after large silicon wafers.

Electronic special gas in the wafer manufacturing process accounts for about 14% of the material cost, almost permeates into every link of integrated circuit production, has a significant impact on the performance, integration and yield of integrated circuits, is known as the semiconductor manufacturing "blood" and "food".

According to the China Semiconductor Industry Association, the sales scale of China's integrated circuit industry in 2020 reached 884.8 billion yuan, up 17% year on year, and the compound growth rate of the past five years reached 20%, bringing sustained and strong impetus to the demand for electronic special gas.

As the global semiconductor industry chain moves to China, the domestic electronic gas market accelerates significantly, much higher than the global growth rate.

According to the data of China Semiconductor Industry Association, the market size of China's electronic specialty gas in 2020 is 15 billion yuan, accounting for about 48% of the global market, which has doubled compared with the proportion in 2011. The CAGR of China's market size from 2011 to 2020 is much higher than the global data. The China Semiconductor Industry Association expects the size of China's electronics specialty market to reach 23 billion yuan in 2024, accounting for nearly 60%.

The purity of electronic special gas directly determines the performance, integration and yield of products. Every order of magnitude increase in the purity of electronic special gas can promote the qualitative leap of semiconductor devices.

In semiconductor integrated circuits, electronic gas is mainly used in etching, doping, CVD, cleaning and so on.

In the wafer manufacturing process, part of the process involves the application of gas etching process, mainly involving CF4, NF3, HBr, etc. In the doping process, impurities are incorporated into a specific semiconductor region to change the electrical properties of the semiconductor. Third-order gases B2H6 and BF3 and fifth-order gases PH3 and AsH3 are used. The process of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on silicon wafer surface mainly involves SiH4, SiCl4, WF6 and so on.

Electronic characteristics determine the final yield and reliability of integrated circuit products.

For example, if the hydride gas concentration of ion implantation gas does not meet the requirements, the PN junction concentration of silicon wafer will be far from the ideal value during ion implantation, resulting in electrical deviation.

However, if the ratio of lithography gas deviates, the wavelength of the light source of the lithography machine will be directly changed, and eventually the lithography linewidth will be offset. If the CVD gas contains some impurities, conductive ions will appear in the insulation layer after the film is deposited, resulting in short circuit phenomenon.

The 12-inch, 90-nm IC manufacturing technology requires electronic gas purity of 99.999%-99.9999% (5N-6N) and hazardous gas impurities of 10-9 (ppb), with strict limits on metallic impurities and dust particles.

In the more advanced 28nm and the current 6nm-10nm process, the purity requirements of electronic special gas are likely to be higher, even up to ppb (10-12) level.

Due to the industry's special requirements for product purity, electronic gas purification, impurity detection, storage and transportation technology is facing a full range of tests.

From the industrial chain of electronic special gas, gas raw materials and chemical raw materials are the main production raw materials of electronic special gas; Gas equipment is an important production equipment of electronic special gas. In addition, since gas products are mostly hazardous chemicals, cylinder requirements for transportation are also essential.

At present, the supply and demand of air separation equipment and basic chemical raw materials are stable. The national attention to environmental protection and the limitation of industrial exhaust emission target also mean that the supply of industrial exhaust in raw materials will be more adequate.

In terms of product types, there are more than 110 kinds of unit special gases used in the semiconductor industry, among which more than 30 kinds are commonly used. According to the statistics of China Industrial Gas Industry Association, only about 20% of the electronic special gas for integrated circuit production can be produced in China at present.

Some electronic special gas products, such as nitrogen trifluoride, carbon tetrafluoride, sulfur hexafluoride, tungsten hexafluoride, nitrous oxide, ammonia gas and other high degree of localization, part of the product localization rate of more than 50%.

As an indispensable key material for the development of the above industries, the market scale of special gases will continue to maintain a high speed of development.

In recent years, the country has successively issued the "13th Five-Year" National Strategic Emerging Industries Development Plan, "New Materials Industry Guide" and other guiding documents, aiming to promote the localization of key materials including special gases. Under the influence of multiple factors such as the rapid expansion of downstream market demand and the support of national policies, the special gas industry in China is expected to accelerate the pace of domestic substitution in the future and realize a rapid development.