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Technical Insight

Magazine Feature
This article was originally featured in the edition:
Volume 30 Issue 7

Superior sealing

News

Greene Tweed’s portfolio of precision seals offers tremendous support to empower the growth of the compound semiconductor industry.

BY PRAGATI VERMA AND THYAG SADASIWAN FROM GREENE TWEED

From ultra-fast communication and electric vehicles to energy applications and artificial intelligence, today’s most innovative technologies rely on compound semiconductors. Excelling where silicon falls short, the unique properties of these chips support the innovation that’s required for tomorrow’s breakthroughs.

Given the growing demand for compound semiconductor technologies, it’s of little surprise that this industry is generating substantial and growing sales. While well-established devices – such as LEDs that serve in general lighting and GaAs-based power amplifiers that are a key ingredient in mobile phones – no longer enjoy rapidly rising revenues, sales are growing fast in other sectors. The most notable of these is that of SiC power electronics, now deployed in automotive, industrial, energy, and rail applications. According to semiconductor market research analyst Yole Group, the SiC device market will increase in value to $10 billion over the next five years, with SiC substrate and epiwafer shipments growing to over 3 million units. 


When it can’t fail 
Driven by opportunities to grow their revenues, many makers of compound semiconductor devices are pursuing capacity expansion plans. Their investments will take many forms, from tools for epitaxial growth and metrology to securing a steady supply of a number of inconspicuous yet indispensable components.

The latter includes products that play a critical role in the manufacture of compound semiconductors, such as the patented Chemraz sealing technology developed by our company, Greene Tweed.  

Well known for having have a strong pedigree in this area, we are a global leader in perfluoroelastomer (FFKM) Chemraz sealing solutions. It’s an enviable position that we are not taking for granted, as we continue to lead the way with multi-million-dollar investments in facilities, alongside the launch of several new products and manufacturing automation technologies.   

Several prominent chipmakers depend on our Chemraz seals. Using them for the production of their most powerful chips, they view second-best seals as not good enough for challenging manufacturing environments.

Demand for our products is growing as chipmakers turn to our Chemraz O-rings and sealing solutions for more demanding processes, where they are able to prevent contamination while withstanding aggressive chemicals and extremely high temperatures. When operating in the world’s harshest semiconductor manufacturing applications, our products combine a tremendous level of performance with exceptional reliability.

Another factor that makes our Chemraz seals indispensable relates to the increasing need for ultraclean processing in manufacturing applications. As the first sealing solutions company to use cleanroom manufacturing in the US, we fully understand the significance of ultraclean operations in the semiconductor industry. We have devoted much effort to ensure that our seals control particle excursions that threaten contamination, while they increase uptime and boost wafer yield.   

Balancing performance and costs 
Greene Tweed understands that not every semiconductor application needs a Chemraz sealing solution. That’s where our Fusion FKM (fluoroelastomer) products come in. They are field-tested in extreme temperatures, high pressures, corrosive chemicals, and volatile fluids.

The Fusion 707 has been specifically developed for flat panel display CVD and dry plasma etch equipment, where seal reliability and minimal contamination are essential. The 707 family of seals provides excellent chemical resistance and withstands various aggressive chemicals. Related to them is the Fusion 706 – it is ideal for a range of plasma equipment applications, from etch and plasma-enhanced CVD to plasma ashing applications, as well as those that must accommodate low sealing force materials, such as bonded slit valve gates. 

Introduced earlier this year is the Fusion F07. This sealing solution is crafted to withstand common etch and CVD oxygen/fluorine-based gases in semiconductor processing sub-fab lines. The F07 handles continuous operating temperatures up to 180 °C and has a minimum expected lifetime of six months. These figures are both better than those for standard FKM seals serving in the same applications. What’s more, the F07 offers a lower cost of operations than premium FFKM materials. 

That’s not all. Greene Tweed’s products help trim the costs of upgrading to larger wafers, such as a move from 150 mm to 200 mm. Note that the manufacture of compound semiconductor, such as SiC, is more expensive, due to the high cost of material, as well as more complex manufacturing processes and lower production yields.

Many companies are trying to reduce the costs of switching to larger wafers by acquiring older tools and modifying and retrofitting them with software upgrades, so that they can work with the likes of SiC, or other compound materials. As some of these tools come with older and obsolete components, we are offering upgrade seal kits to improve the capabilities of older refurbished tools, a more prudent alternative to making massive investments in entirely new equipment. By upgrading tools so that they can incorporate the latest high-performance sealing solutions required to prevent contamination and maintain a cleanroom environment, compound semiconductor manufacturers can increase throughput and yield, critical to meeting the surge in demand while optimising profitability. 

Scaling up to provide chipmakers with the products that they will need during the anticipated boom is far from trivial. But the recent industry-wide supply crunch gripping the FFKM materials, which has coincided with a global surge in demand for chips, has given us valuable insights into how to meet the burgeoning demand while minimising the impact of possible disruptions.

Building on these insights, we are rolling out six major initiatives to ensure that we can promptly deliver high-performing sealing solutions, as customer needs evolve to meet the growing demand for semiconductors. These six initiatives, which we go on to discuss in detail, are:  a new manufacturing facility in Korea; new innovations, designed for harsh conditions and expansion; the introduction of next-generation manufacturing to accelerate growth; the use of secured resources; fortification of supply chain resiliency; and ensuring that we are ready for the new tools that chipmakers will invest in.

A new facility in Korea   
We are making significant investments to expand our global manufacturing capacity and capabilities within the semiconductor market. This initiative is exemplified by our construction of a new 6,500 m2 facility in Ochang, Cheongju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea. Our new factory is equipped with end-to-end manufacturing process capabilities – from initial extrusion of raw materials to warehousing finished products. We have already started producing samples, and later this year we will transition to commercial production.

Featuring cleanroom space to maintain a pristine environment vital for components supporting chip fabrication, our new facility in South Korea will initially focus on our flagship Chemraz product line.

As well as increasing global capacity, this new facility for producing Chemraz products is underscoring our commitment to supporting customers based in South Korea and the surrounding region, including notable semiconductor leaders. This facility, which is creating a healthier global supply chain, will help us shorten lead times, build stronger co-development strategies with key customers, and enhance business continuity plans.