Semicon manufacturing industry

T. Takaichi, (Showa Denko K. K.), Activities in Gas Manufacturing Industry, Proceedings of PFC Forum 97 (SEMICON Japan 97), Makuhari, Japan, 1997, E-l. 

Our lives have been, and continue to be, revolutionized by electronics that impact the way we work, treat patients, communicate, shop, travel, bank, and learn. The driving force of these changes has been the semiconductor manufacturing industry (semicon). It has rapidly renewed itself by improving the state of technology and reducing the cost of its products. Nearly every two years there has been a step change towards smaller, faster, and less costly semiconductor devices (chips). 

From its onset, the semiconductor industry has relied on fluoropolymers as the material of construction for wet processing equipment, fluid transport systems, and wafer handling tools. Semiconductor manufacturing processes are extremely intolerant of particulate and chemical contamination which can, even in trace amounts, cause severe decreases in yields. Therefore, fluoropolymers purity and resistance to chemical attack have created an important role for plastics in the semicon industry. In the next section, we briefly review the chip manufacturing industry to provide the reader with a more in-depth understanding of the important role that fluoroplastics play in this industry. 

The growth in the semicon industry has relied on the manufacturing advancement of silicon chip fabrication factories (fab) which can easily exceed two billion dollars in construction costs. Precision of assembly, contamination control (purity), automation, and speed are some of the key contributing factors to the improved productivity of fabs. Consequently, every year more computation power is packed in smaller processors, shrinking device sizes, and lower cost to consumers. 

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