Semiconductor
One of the most important inventions of our time, semiconductors form the foundation of modern life
They enable us to connect with each other, collect, store, and process information, and implement intelligent automation.
The backbone of technology
Semiconductor manufacturing has experienced significant innovation in recent years, resulting in dramatically improved chip architecture that has revolutionized capabilities and performance. Smaller, more efficient designs combined with higher processing speeds and more sensitive interfaces are opening new frontiers in computing and industrial systems. These state-of-the-art chips rely on increasingly advanced materials to perform exceptionally intricate operations.
Quartz in chip manufacture
Silicon wafers serve as the foundation of integrated circuits. Paper-thin wafers are sliced from ingots pulled in crucibles made from our ultra pure quartz. Our quartz is also used for tubes, rods, and ingots used in quartzware for further processing. Only the highest quality quartz is acceptable for crucible manufacture to avoid contamination to the silicon melt. Any impurities present during the manufacturing process will disrupt the monocrystalline structure of the ingot and degrade the functioning of the chip, potentially impacting the safety, efficiency, and cost effectiveness of the final product. Because our quartz is 99.999% SiO2, it is deemed safe to come into contact with the silicon melt even at temperatures as high as ~1,500ºC.
14,713 million square inches of semiconductors were shipped in 2022
Metal impurities in the silicon ingot must remain at levels below one part per billion to avoid impacting the electrical properties of the final wafer.