sit right in the centre of this flourishing industry.
" Asia Pacific is the powerhouse of electronics production. More chips are produced there than...
European Electronics Engineer:
What’s the semiconductor market like at the moment?Kevin Lai:
It’s booming. We always see volatilitywith demand going up and down for chipsbut the trend overall is an upward one. There are so many electronic applicationsand they are continuing to grow in number. Inline with thischip volumes are increasing.EEE:
Where is the semiconductor activity going on in the region?Kevin Lai:
Most of the semiconductor original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are based in the States and Europe. In Asia Pacificthey are located in Japan. The two other key countries involved in semicon are Taiwan and Korea. There our customers are primarily end-users who buy equipment from the OEMs for chip production. Sofor usMaintenance Repair Overhaul (MRO) is the main business.EEE:
You have not mentioned Chinaisn’t semiconductor manufacture moving there?Kevin Lai:
Soyesmainstream manufacture is moving to China. It is producing six-inch fabs but the 12-inch fab lines remain in JapanTaiwan and Korea. China is excellent at supplying older technology electronic itemsbut for the higher technology productssuch as CPUs and RAMfabrication is in JapanKoreaor Taiwan.
Without a doubt there is a large shift of electronic production from other countries in Asia Pacific to Chinabut this trend is very dependent on the type of manufacture. JapanTaiwan and Korea are still dominant in the semiconductor sector as China is not yet technically mature enough to supply some components for this industry. The requirements are really at the cutting edge of electronics technology.EEE:
You talk about six-inch and 12-inch wafers. We understand 12-inch wafer production is increasing. Why?Glen Wang:
It’s simple. Imagine the wafer is a pizza. A six-inch pizza you can cut into six slicesa 12-inch pizza into 12 or more. So from a 12-inch wafer you can produce a lot more chips. The down side is that there is greater risk of failure. It takes around 400 different processes to produce a single microchip. The slightest impurities or malfunction in any one of theseand the wafer must be scrapped. The bigger the wafer isthe higher the cost of doing that. Quality is more critical in 12-inch fabricationso everything in the processing system must meet the highest requirements. That includes the seals.EEE:
Kevinin Taiwan most of your customers are MROs. Is there much demand for seals from them?Kevin Lai:
The demand is high from the MROs. In factthe aftermarket is as big as the OEM marketand it is extremely competitive. The fab is always under pressure from their customers to reduce costs so that the overall price of electronic items can be lowered. The fab is therefore continuously demanding the most cost-effective sealing solution. That doesn’t always mean they are looking for the cheapest priced seals. In factthe cheapest seal can often prove to be the most expensive in the end.EEE:
Why is that?Kevin Lai:
A worse problem still is the potential for seal failure if a poor quality seal is usedas the cost of downtime in a fab can be huge. Most manufacturers will therefore be looking at total cost of production. They’ll not just be considering the price of the sealbut also compatibility with process chemicalsgases and plasma. They’ll want a proven extended life for the products they fit.
One of the key things that the fab is trying to do is to extend the Mean Time Between Maintenance (MTBM). A low cost seal will probably be of an inferior material that will only give a short life. Superior materialsspecially engineered to meet the requirements of semiconductor manufacturecan provide extended life.EEE:
I guess that means you have to work closely with the customers.Glen Wang:
The biggest advantage of Trelleborg Sealing Solutions in the Asian semiconductor market is that we supply a high level of engineering support. The majority of our competitors will just offer a standard replacement O-Ring for an application. Our objective is instead to maximise seal life expectancy. In conjunction with our customers’ engineering teams we examine the differing requirements for each processing stageso that we can specify a seal material or product that matches the conditions faced.EEE:
Will the customer be looking for a single sealing solution throughout the processing system?Glen Wang:
In some areaswhich are not so severesuch as etchingwe can specify fluoroelastomerfor instance. But in processes like chemical vapour deposition (CVD) or physical vapour
Definitely not. Different sealing materials have different tolerances in terms of temperature resistancefriction characteristics in rotating applications or capability to withstand media. In the semiconductor industry there are some really specific and demanding needs. Seals must be ultra cleanparticle extraction is measured at microscopic levels and metal contamination is a big issue. The seals have to withstand some exceptionally aggressive chemicalsgases and even bombardment by plasma. In other parts of the system they need to operate in a vacuum or low outgassing may be critical.
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