What is a silicon wafer? Which manufacturers produce silicon wafers?

In recent years, the global supply of silicon wafers has been struggling to meet rising demand, leading to long lead times for orders of both 8-inch and 12-inch wafers, with some orders extending as far as the first half of 2019 or even the end of the year. However, a number of domestic silicon wafer projects are now underway, aiming to reduce reliance on imports and ensure sufficient production capacity to meet market needs. **Knowledge Point 1: What is a Silicon Wafer?** A silicon wafer is made from highly purified silicon (99.999%) that is melted and formed into a long crystal ingot. This ingot serves as the base material for manufacturing integrated circuits. Through processes such as photolithography, grinding, polishing, and slicing, the silicon is transformed into thin wafers used in semiconductor production. The manufacturing process involves several key steps: 1. **Purification**: The first stage involves metallurgical purification, where silicon oxide is converted into silicon with a purity of around 98% using carbon. However, this level is still insufficient for chip manufacturing. A second purification step using the Siemens process is then applied to produce high-purity polycrystalline silicon required for semiconductors. 2. **Crystal Pulling**: High-purity polycrystalline silicon is melted and a single crystal seed is introduced. As it is slowly pulled up while rotating, the silicon atoms align to form a single crystal ingot. This alignment is crucial for ensuring the proper structure needed for semiconductor devices. 3. **Cutting**: Once the ingot is formed, it is cut into thin wafers using diamond blades. These wafers are then polished to achieve the smooth surface necessary for circuit fabrication. **What Do 6", 8", and 12" Mean?** These measurements refer to the diameter of the silicon wafers after they are cut from the crystal. Larger wafers allow for more chips per wafer, increasing efficiency. However, producing larger wafers requires more advanced technology and stricter control over temperature and speed, making 12-inch wafers more challenging to manufacture than 8-inch ones. **Knowledge Point 2: Who Produces Silicon Wafers?** Silicon wafers are cutting-edge products, and only about ten companies worldwide can manufacture them. The top five manufacturers—Shin-Etsu, SUMCO, GlobalWafers, Siltronic, and LG Siltron—account for over 90% of the market. Shin-Etsu and SUMCO alone hold more than 60% of the global share, with a strong focus on large-diameter wafers (200mm and 300mm), which dominate 70% of the market. Other notable players include Okmetic (Finland), Episil (Taiwan), and companies like Sino-US Silicon Crystal, which acquired Covalent Materials to expand its footprint. In 2017, SUMCO announced a $397 million investment to increase 12-inch wafer production at its Imari plant, aiming to boost output by 110,000 units per month by mid-2019. **Domestic Silicon Wafer Projects in China** Several major silicon wafer projects have been launched in China, including Shanghai Xinsheng, Chongqing Super Silicon, Ningxia Yinhe, Zhejiang Jinruiqi, Zhengzhou Hejing, and the Xi'an High-tech Zone Project. These initiatives collectively involve over RMB 52 billion in investment and aim to reach a monthly capacity of 1.2 million 12-inch wafers. Xinsheng Semiconductor, one of the world's leading 12-inch wafer producers, started trial production in 2017 and is expanding its capacity to 100,000 wafers per month in the first phase. Ningxia Yinhe plans to produce 4.2 million 8-inch and 2.4 million 12-inch wafers annually upon completion. Tianjin Zhonghuan Semiconductor has achieved mass production of 8-inch wafers and is working on 12-inch samples, with plans to reach 300,000 pieces/month by 2018. Chongqing Super Silicon successfully produced its first 12-inch wafer in 2016, while Jinrui Technology (Zhangzhou) aims to build a 400,000 8-inch wafer project. Zhengzhou Hejing is developing a 200mm and 300mm wafer production base, and the Xi'an High-tech Zone is investing over 10 billion yuan in a new silicon industry base. **Knowledge Point 3: Supply and Demand Analysis** According to Gartner, the global wafer market is expected to reach about $11 billion by 2020. Currently, China lacks 12-inch wafer production capacity and relies heavily on imports. Domestic demand stands at around 450,000 pieces/month, but it is projected to rise to 800–1,000 million pieces/month by 2020. With planned domestic production reaching 1.2 million 12-inch wafers per month, the gap between supply and demand may be significantly reduced if these projects proceed smoothly. Additionally, if 8-inch wafer projects achieve mass production, there could be a surplus in the market.

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