China SiC Wafer Holder for RTP Manufacturers, Suppliers, Factory

The current third-generation semiconductors are primarily based on Silicon Carbide, with substrates accounting for 47% of device costs, and epitaxy accounting for 23%, totaling approximately 70% and forming the most crucial part of the SiC device manufacturing industry.

In the world of high-temperature heating, achieving precision and reliability in extreme conditions is paramount. To meet these challenges, innovative materials and designs have been developed to push the boundaries of what's possible. One such advancement is the Silicon Carbide (SiC) coated graphite heating element.

Gallium Nitride (GaN) is an important material in semiconductor technology, known for its exceptional electronic and optical properties. GaN, as a wide-bandgap semiconductor, has a bandgap energy of approximately 3.4 eV, making it ideal for high-power and high-frequency applications.

SiC substrate can have microscopic defects, such as Threading Screw Dislocation (TSD), Threading Edge Dislocation (TED), Base Plane Dislocation (BPD), and others. These defects are caused by deviations in the arrangement of atoms at the atomic level. SiC crystals may also have macroscopic dislocations, like Si or C inclusions, micropipe, hexagonal voids, polymorphs, etc. These dislocations are typically large in size.

Currently, many semiconductor devices employ mesa device structures, which are predominantly created through two types of etching: wet etching and dry etching. While the simple and rapid wet etching plays a significant role in semiconductor device fabrication, it has inherent drawbacks such as isotropic etching and poor uniformity, which result in limited control when transferring small-sized patterns. Dry etching, however, with its high anisotropy, good uniformity, and repeatability, has become prominent in semiconductor device fabrication processes. The term “dry etching” broadly refers to any non-wet etching technology used for removing surface materials and transferring micro and nano patterns, including laser etching, plasma etching, and chemical vapor etching. The dry etching discussed in this text specifically pertains to the narrow application of processes using plasma discharge—either physical or chemical—to modify material surfaces.

Within the silicon carbide (SiC) industry chain, substrate suppliers hold significant leverage, primarily due to value distribution. SiC substrates account for 47% of the total value, followed by epitaxial layers at 23%, while device design and manufacturing constitute the remaining 30%. This inverted value chain stems from the high technological barriers inherent to substrate and epitaxial layer production. Three major challenges plague SiC substrate growth: stringent growth conditions, slow growth rates, and demanding crystallographic requirements. These complexities contribute to increased processing difficulty, ultimately resulting in low product yields and high costs. Furthermore, the epitaxial layer’s thickness and doping concentration are critical parameters directly impacting the final device performance.