Thoughts on the development of electronic gas industry

First, the application of electronic gas in the modern electronics industry

 

The modern electronics industry has become a core industrial system that supports the sustainable development of the national economy and safeguards the national strategic security. The development of the electronics industry represented by ultra-large-scale integrated circuits and solid-state semiconductor lighting has changed the way people produce, live and think, greatly promoted the progress of human civilization, and greatly promoted the sustainable growth of the global economy. . The development level of integrated circuit technology and industrial scale have become an important indicator to measure a country's overall technical level, modernization level and economic strength.

 

Electronic gas is the most basic material in the electronics industry such as integrated circuits and solid-state semiconductor lighting. It is called the grain and blood of the semiconductor industry. In the production process of microelectronics, optoelectronics and other devices, there are many processes such as epitaxy, film formation, doping, etching, cleaning, packaging, etc., and electron gas is indispensable in almost every step and every step. In addition, electronic gases are widely used in the solar industry, display manufacturing, defense, military, aerospace, and aerospace industries.

 

Second, the electronic gas market and industry status

 

At present, the world semiconductor industry center is showing a trend of rapid transfer to China. Therefore, China's demand for electronic gas has also shown a significant growth trend. The global electronic gas market is about 3 billion US dollars, and the mainland China market is about 3 billion yuan.

 

China's electronic gas industry is in its infancy. The domestic enterprises engaged in the production of high-purity electronic gas mainly include the Seventy-eighth Research Institute of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, Liming Chemical Research and Design Institute Co., Ltd., Foshan Huate Gas Co., Ltd., Green Ling Gas (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. Shuguang Ming Chemical Research and Design Institute Co., Ltd., Dalian Bonded Area Kelly Chemical Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing Huayu Tongfang Chemical Technology Development Co., Ltd., Guangming Chemical Research and Design Institute Hangzhou Special Materials Department, Baoding Huayu New Electronic Materials Co., Ltd., Suzhou Jinhong Gas More than a dozen companies such as a company limited by shares. Although the domestic electronic gas industry has made great progress in recent years, the products currently produced cannot fully meet the needs of related electronic products, and the production capacity is small, or can only be used to manufacture low-grade products, especially large scale. The gas of 6N or higher purity used in integrated circuits is mainly solved by imports.

 

The domestic electronic gas market is mainly monopolized by several major multinational gas companies, such as French Air Liquid, Praxair, American Air Chemical, Linde, Dayang, and so on. With the increasing international competition in the electronics industry, products that rely on imported high-purity electronic gas to produce microelectronics and optoelectronic devices are facing a severe market test. In addition, most of the electronic gases are flammable, explosive, and highly toxic, belonging to the control category, the import is very troublesome, and the transportation cycle is long, which seriously restricts the healthy and stable development of domestic optoelectronics and microelectronics. In addition, electronic gas is widely used as a key raw material in the field of national defense industry. Therefore, developed countries and regions such as Europe and the United States have listed some high-purity electronic gases, such as phosphine and arsine, as sensitive strategic materials, and imposed technical blockade on China. The embargo has seriously affected the development of national defense, military, aerospace and aerospace industries. Therefore, China's microelectronics industry has been eager to carry out research and production of electronic gas to solve the "source" problem of microelectronics production, fundamentally remove the worries of microelectronics manufacturing, and open up the development of megabit integrated circuits and ULSI-level integrated circuits. The "bottleneck" problem.

 

Third, the development of the electronic gas industry

 

From a technical perspective, domestic companies have basically acquired the ability to produce high-purity electron gases. The main reasons why domestic manufacturers of electronic gas cannot enter the field of integrated circuits are as follows:

 

First point: The production and supply of local electronic gas is small and cannot provide users with a full range of services. Compared with international giants, domestic suppliers are generally small in size. At present, most of them want to occupy a little market share through low-cost competition. The competition among local suppliers is fierce, resulting in rapid price decline and low profit. Even loss. Lack of funds to enhance innovation and lack of resources to provide users with a full range of services.

 

The second point: quality stability issues. Electronic gases, especially high-purity electronic gases, are important factors influencing the reliability and yield of electronic devices. With the rapid development of electronic information technology, the purity requirements of electronic gas are getting higher and higher, and the purity of 6N grade (99.9999%) and above is often required, and the quality stability requirements of electronic gas are becoming more and more demanding. As an example, if an electronic gas product is verified in an integrated circuit manufacturing process, such purity and quality requirements are locked. Chip manufacturers don't want to see any change in the quality of their products, and even a further increase in purity can create unexpected problems. Therefore, any changes in the production process of electronic materials, including replacement of raw material suppliers, changes in production processes, etc., must promptly notify the chip manufacturer to decide whether to re-verify according to the situation. The electronic gas produced by domestic enterprises has experienced many quality accidents, which has affected the trust of chip manufacturers in local electronic products.

 

The third point: the packaging, storage and transportation of domestic electronic gas products have not been in line with the requirements of the modern electronics industry. In order to save costs, low-cost competition, reduce requirements in packaging, storage and transportation, and various problems have arisen.

 

In order to promote the innovation and industrialization capabilities of the domestic electronic gas industry, the National 02 project launched the “High-purity Electronic Gas R&D and Industrialization” project in 2013 to develop key high-purity electronic gases for IC manufacturing and improve the market self-sufficiency rate of local electronic gases. . The Seventh Eighteenth Research Institute of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation and Jiangsu Nanda Optoelectronic Materials Co., Ltd. and other six units jointly undertaken the project. R&D and industrialization include nitrogen trifluoride, tungsten hexafluoride, high purity phosphane, and high purity arsenic. 19 kinds of electronic gas products such as alkane.

 

Despite the support of the 02 special project, it is still a long way to go to realize the large-scale localization of electronic gas and get rid of dependence on imported materials. On the one hand, electronic gas companies must achieve mergers/reorganizations under the premise of respecting the laws of the market economy, reduce the waste of vicious competition and repeated investment, optimize the use of resources, and enhance the innovation capability of enterprises. Enterprises should also update their concepts, introduce advanced quality management systems such as Six Sigma, and be equipped with application engineers who understand the manufacturing processes of electronic manufacturing such as IC manufacturing, providing supporting support and comprehensive services. On the other hand, the state should actively guide mergers/reorganizations in terms of funding and taxation policies, helping strong enterprises to become bigger and stronger, and allowing weak enterprises and enterprises with poor management ability to integrate into strong enterprises or naturally. qiut the market. And through policy incentives, fully guide the funds in the society to participate in the construction of the electronic gas industry, to help enterprises become bigger and stronger. It is believed that China will be able to form one or two large-scale, domestic and international well-known brands of electronic gas materials enterprises within 5-10 years.

 

Jiangsu Nanda Optoelectronic Materials Co., Ltd., one of the units of the National 02 special project “High-purity Electronic Gas R&D and Industrialization”, purchased 133 mu of land in Quanjiao County, Cangzhou City, Anhui Province, and established a wholly-owned subsidiary Quanjiao Nanda Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. Materials Co., Ltd. is committed to the development of high-purity phosphane, arsine and other special electronic gases. On this basis, the Quanjiao County People's Government of Zhangzhou City, Anhui Province has allocated more than 2,000 mu of land and plans to build the Quanjiao County Electronic New Material Industrial Park. It is expected that in this land, domestic entrepreneurs will work together with the state and local governments to jointly develop China's electronic gas and other new electronic materials, and realize the large-scale localization of new electronic materials such as electronic gas in China to help get rid of China's electronics industry has long relied on foreign imports to break the blockade of key electronic materials in foreign defense, military, aerospace and aviation industries in China.