Silicon Wafers

What is the process to create silicon wafers?

Creating silicon wafers involves several key steps, primarily focused on refining silicon and then shaping it into thin, flat discs.

Here’s a simplified overview of the process:

1. Silicon Extraction

• Quartz Sand Mining: Silicon is primarily derived from quartz sand (SiO2).
• Reduction: The quartz is heated with carbon in an electric arc furnace to produce metallurgical-grade silicon (MG-Si) through a reduction process.

2. Purification

• Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD): MG-Si is further purified to create polycrystalline silicon. This is typically done using the Siemens process, where MG-Si is reacted with hydrogen chloride to form trichlorosilane (TCS), which is then heated to deposit high-purity silicon.

3. Crystal Growth

• Czochralski Process: A seed crystal is dipped into molten silicon and slowly pulled upward while rotating, allowing the silicon to solidify around it, forming a single crystal ingot.
• Float Zone Process: An alternative method where a rod of silicon is melted in a moving zone, allowing for even purer single crystal growth.

4. Ingot Shaping

• Slicing: The solidified ingot is sliced into thin wafers using a diamond saw or wire saw.
• Polishing: The sliced wafers are polished to achieve a smooth surface finish, which is critical for electronic applications.

5. Wafer Etching

• Chemical Etching: Wafers may undergo etching processes to remove any surface imperfections or contaminants.

6. Final Inspection and Testing

• Wafers are inspected for quality, including checking for defects, thickness, and surface quality, often using advanced metrology tools.

7. Packaging

• The final wafers are cleaned and packaged for delivery to semiconductor manufacturers for further processing into chips.

Each step in this process is crucial to ensure that the final wafers meet the stringent requirements for electronics manufacturing.

50mm-300mm Silicon Wafers

Silicon Valley Microelectronics provides different diameter silicon wafers (300mm, 200mm, 150mm, 125mm, 100mm, 76mm, and 50mm) in a variety of specifications, suitable for a wide range of applications.

You can find our inventory of the different diameters we offer through the links here: 300mm, 200mm, 150mm, 125mm, 100mm, 76mm, 50mm 

Double Side Polished Wafers (DSP)

Silicon Valley Microelectronics uses simultaneous double-side polishing technology, and therefore can supply a wide variety of high-quality ultra-flat wafers to meet the exact controlled flatness requirements of each customer.

Ultra Flat Wafers

Silicon Valley Microelectronics can supply a wide variety of high-quality ultra-flat wafers to meet the exact controlled flatness requirements of each customer.

Float Zone Wafers (FZ)

Silicon Valley Microelectronics offers float zone (FZ) wafers ranging in diameter from 50mm to 200mm. These wafers have a low concentration of impurities and high-temperature capabilities. The properties of FZ wafers give them advantages over CZ wafers in a variety of applications.

Low Resistivity Wafers

Silicon Valley Microelectronics supplies both N-type and P-type low resistivity wafers in all diameters, 50mm to 300mm, with or without backseal. We can achieve resistivity <0.01 ohm-cm.

N-Type Wafers

Silicon Valley Microelectronics supplies a variety of N-type wafers with phosphorus/antimony/arsenic dopant, in diameters ranging from 50mm to 300mm.

Coinroll Wafers

Silicon Valley Microelectronics offers a variety of 200mm and 300mm coinroll wafers.