Quartz Furnace Tube

Semicorex quartz furnace tube, wafer boats, quartz crucibles for Silicon single crystal growth are all made of high-purity quartz material. Quartz is widely used in semiconductor industry, the high-purity quartz is the important consumable in wafer fabrication. The main target market of quartz parts in semiconductor field is the diffusion and etching process in wafer fabrication, can be divided into two main categories: high-temperature parts and low-temperature parts.

1.High-temperature parts are quartz furnace tube, wafer boat, boat holder, and etc. They need to directly or indirectly contact with Silicon wafer in high-temperature environment, are mainly made of fused quartz glass material, produced through thermal processing.

2.Low-temperature parts are quartz rings in etching process, and including cassettes, cleaning tanks in cleaning process. They are mainly used in low-temperature environment, which are mainly made of fused quartz glass, produced through cold processing.

Components in the high-temperature zone are consumed more quickly, but they are typically used in multi-wafer systems (one carrier holding multiple silicon wafers), while components in the low-temperature zone are consumed more slowly, but they are used in single-wafer systems (one carrier holding one silicon wafer); therefore, the overall market size for both is relatively similar.

The furnace is the area in which the wafers undergo a high-temperature heating process, consist by quartz furnace tube, reactor and several heaters, it is widely applied in diffusion, oxidation, RTP processes in semiconductor processing. The furnace is mainly divided into horizontal and vertical types:. In a horizontal furnace, wafers are placed on a quartz boat, which in turn is placed on a SiC carrier. There are also adaptive baffles at the front and back. The carrier is pushed into the quartz furnace tube, and the wafers undergo the reaction in a constant temperature zone. In a vertical furnace, wafers are placed on a quartz tower and then slowly raised into the quartz furnace tube for processing.

Due to the high temperatures involved in the above processes, to prevent severe deformation and collapse of the quartz furnace tube after repeated and prolonged use, a quartz furnace tube that is resistant to deformation and collapse and has a long service life should be used during production.

Here are the advantages of quartz furnace tube:

1. High temperature resistance. Quartz glass has a softening point of approximately 1730℃ and can be used for extended periods at 1150℃, with a short-term maximum temperature reaching 1450℃.

2. Corrosion resistance. Except for hydrofluoric acid, high-purity quartz hardly reacts chemically with other acidic substances. At high temperatures, it can withstand corrosion from sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, aqua regia, neutral salts, carbon, and sulfur. Its acid resistance is 30 times that of ceramics and 150 times that of stainless steel.  Its chemical stability, especially at high temperatures, is unmatched by any other engineering material.

3. Good thermal stability. High-purity quartz has an extremely low coefficient of thermal expansion and can withstand drastic temperature changes.  Heating high-purity quartz to around 1100℃ and then immersing it in room temperature water will not cause it to shatter.

4. Good light transmission performance. High-purity quartz has good light transmission performance across the entire spectrum from ultraviolet to infrared. The visible light transmittance is above 93%, and in the ultraviolet spectrum, the maximum transmittance can reach over 80%.

5. Good electrical insulation performance. The resistivity of high-purity quartz is ten thousand times that of ordinary quartz glass, making it an excellent electrical insulation material, possessing good electrical properties even at high temperatures.