What is a silicon wafer? Which manufacturers produce silicon wafers?
In recent years, the global supply of silicon wafers has been tight, leading to backlogs in orders for both 8-inch and 12-inch wafers that extended into the first half of 2019 and even the end of the year. Currently, several domestic silicon wafer projects have started, and it is expected that they will eventually reduce reliance on imports and meet market demand effectively.
**Knowledge Point 1: What is a Silicon Wafer?**
A silicon wafer is made from highly purified silicon (with a purity of at least 99.999%). The pure silicon is formed into a long ingot, which becomes the base material for quartz semiconductors used in integrated circuits. Through processes like photolithography, grinding, polishing, and slicing, the silicon is transformed into thin wafers.
1. **Purification**: This process involves two stages. The first is metallurgical purification, where carbon is added to convert silicon dioxide into silicon with a purity of over 98%. However, this level is still insufficient for chip manufacturing. Therefore, the Siemens process is used to further purify the silicon, resulting in high-purity polycrystalline silicon required for semiconductor production.
2. **Crystal Pulling**: The high-purity polycrystalline silicon is melted into liquid form. A single-crystal silicon seed is then introduced and slowly pulled up while rotating. This ensures that the atoms align correctly, forming a single-crystal structure. Once solidified, this results in a long monocrystalline silicon column.
3. **Cutting into Wafers**: The silicon crystal is cut into thin slices using a diamond blade. These slices are then polished to create usable silicon wafers.
**What Are 6-inch, 8-inch, and 12-inch Wafers?**
These terms refer to the diameter of the silicon wafer after it has been cut and polished. Larger wafers allow for more chips per unit, but they also require more advanced technology and higher precision during the pulling process. As a result, producing high-quality 12-inch wafers is more challenging than making 8-inch ones.
**Knowledge Point 2: Who Produces Silicon Wafers?**
Silicon wafers are cutting-edge high-tech products, with only around 10 companies globally capable of manufacturing them. The top five companies hold over 90% of the market share. Shin-Etsu and SUMCO are the leading manufacturers, together accounting for more than 60% of the global market. They specialize in large-sized wafers (200mm and 300mm), which account for over 70% of the total production. Other key players include Global Wafer, Siltronic, LG Siltron, Soitec, and Wafer Works, among others.
Several global wafer manufacturers have expanded their operations in Asia, including plans to build new facilities in China. For example, Global Wafer partnered with Ferrotec to establish a Shanghai 8-inch wafer fab with an initial monthly capacity of 100,000 units. Additionally, an 8-inch factory in Hangzhou was planned to start production by the end of 2019.
**What Are the Domestic Silicon Wafer Projects?**
China has launched multiple silicon wafer projects, including Shanghai Xinsheng, Chongqing Super Silicon, Ningxia Yinhe, Zhejiang Jinruiqi, Zhengzhou Hejing, and the Xi'an High-tech Zone Project. These initiatives involve a total investment of over RMB 52 billion and aim to achieve a monthly production capacity of 1.2 million 12-inch wafers.
Shanghai Xinsheng is one of the world's leading 12-inch wafer manufacturers, focusing on 300mm wafers. In 2017, the company began trial production and delivered test wafers to customers. It has since expanded its production capacity, with the first phase aiming for 100,000 wafers per month.
Ningxia Yinhe Semiconductor started a project with a total investment of 1.6 billion yuan, targeting the production of 4.2 million 8-inch and 2.4 million 12-inch wafers annually once completed.
Tianjin Zhonghuan Semiconductor achieved mass production of 8-inch Czochralski crystals and started trial production of 12-inch single-crystal samples in 2018. Its 8-inch polishing sheet capacity reached 100,000 pieces per month by March 2018.
Chongqing Super Silicon successfully produced 8-inch and 12-inch monocrystalline silicon rods in 2016 and later shipped 200mm wafers in 2017. The project aims to produce 6 million 8-inch and 600,000 12-inch wafers annually.
Jinrui Technology (Zhangzhou) launched a 5-billion-yuan project to build 400,000 8-inch wafers per month and 100,000 12-inch wafers per month. The project is being implemented in three phases.
Zhengzhou Hejing Silicon Materials plans to build a 200mm and 300mm wafer production base with a total investment of 5.3 billion yuan.
Xi’an High-tech Zone recently signed an agreement for a silicon industry base project with a total investment exceeding 10 billion yuan.
**Knowledge Point 3: Supply and Demand Analysis**
According to Gartner, the global wafer market is expected to reach about $11 billion by 2020. Currently, the global monthly capacity for 12-inch wafers is approximately 5.5 to 5.6 million. China currently lacks domestic 12-inch wafer production and relies entirely on imports. Domestic demand is around 450,000 units per month, but it is projected to rise to 800–1,000 million units by 2020.
Domestic planning for 12-inch wafer capacity has already reached 1.2 million units per month. If these projects proceed smoothly, they could meet domestic demand. Additionally, if 8-inch projects achieve mass production targets, there may be surplus capacity.
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