Ensights

Empowering Semiconductor and Device Performance with Improved Point-of-Use Filtration

What does an Entegris employee look like? What do they do all day, and what do they like about their jobs? This blog is part of a series that will take a deep dive into a variety of careers at Entegris. We’ll highlight several employees and their valuable contributions to the organization. What do they do, how are they succeeding, and why do they think Entegris is a great place to work?

Driving the Future with SiC The semiconductor industry is abuzz with discussions around silicon carbide (SiC) — a material poised to revolutionize power electronics. Global megatrends like sustainability, the rise of electric vehicles, and the growing demands of AI systems have made SiC essential for enabling efficient, high-performance solutions. At Entegris, we’ve embraced this momentum, working with industry-leading chipmakers to help make an impact in the SiC space. Here’s a review of some of our exciting work around SiC over the past year.

Advancing Space Domain Awareness: MIT Lincoln Laboratory's Innovative Mirror Technology and the Role of Entegris SUPERSiC®-SP Enhancing our understanding of the space environment is crucial to navigating the ever-evolving landscape of space exploration. As part of collaboration efforts between the U.S. and Japan to boost space domain awareness through cutting-edge mirror technology, MIT Lincoln Laboratory (MIT LL) built payloads hosted on Japanese satellites. MIT LL built two identical space payloads for the Japanese QZS-6 and QZS-7 satellites and selected Entegris’ SUPERSiC-SP silicon carbide (SiC) material to serve as a substrate for their mirrors. They also chose our chemical vapor deposition (CVD) SiC solution to serve as a mirror cladding. These payloads are part of a collaborative effort between the U.S. and Japan to augment space domain awareness of objects in or near geosynchronous orbit (GEO). This initiative not only showcases international cooperation but also highlights the innovative engineering challenges and solutions involved in creating functional space payloads.

Exploring the Superiority of Silicon Carbide in Optical Components Silicon carbide (SiC) is a leading material for high-performance optical components, offering numerous advantages over traditional materials such as glass and metal. Its exceptional specific stiffness, high thermal conductivity, and outstanding dimensional stability position SiC as a superior choice compared to beryllium and low-expansion glass ceramics. Historically, the high costs associated with the preliminary shaping and final finishing of SiC have hindered its widespread adoption in optical systems. The material is both hard and strong, requiring precision machining with expensive diamond tooling on high-quality, rigid machine tools. However, advances in manufacturing techniques, such as near-net-shape slip casting, have demonstrated success in reducing costs despite necessitating significant diamond grinding. Building on this success, Entegris offers an entirely new way of creating SiC. Using our chemical vapor conversion process, we can create net- or near net-shaped SiC components in complex forms while spending much less time on fabrication.

Entegris Offers New FOUP Form-Factors for Non-Standard Wafers Over the last few years, 3D stacking has gone from a relatively niche fabrication method to an absolute necessity for cutting-edge applications. As chipmakers delve into smaller and smaller nodes, stacking and die-bonding wafers has become a preferred way of creating more processing power in a smaller space. Stacked and bonded wafers don’t behave the same way as 2D wafers: Wafers are thinned prior to bonding, which results in wafers that can sag when handled Bonded wafers are thicker and heavier than 2D wafers when assembled Bonded wafers can also warp following assembly Many automation tools rely on the predictable geometry and characteristics of 2D silicon wafers for safe handling and transport. While stacked and bonded wafers are a game-changer for miniaturization, they can also force manufacturing compromises unless chipmakers adopt specialized tools for the back end of the line (BEOL).

The use of silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductors offers a huge advantage for electric vehicles (EVs) due to lower switching losses and higher efficiencies, but cost has always been a drawback. SiC wafer manufacturing can suffer from high costs and lower yields, causing SiC semiconductors to cost up to eight times more than their silicon equivalents. This cost often gets passed on to the end customer, making EVs more expensive.

A “one size fits all” approach for chemical air filtration entails a productivity and safety risk in commercial environments reliant on pure air quality. Trying to use one type of chemical air filter for every scenario may provide protection, but without optimization the protection is both limited and temporary.

In recognition of Earth Day, SEMI’s Climate Equity & Social Impact Working Group (CESI) organized a series of lighting talks from member organizations to highlight their progress on sustainability. We heard from companies around the semiconductor industry, as well as Entegris engineer Paola Gonzalez. They shared a number of different strategies for mitigating climate impact. Here are some of the key takeaways.

Airborne molecular contamination (AMC) is common to every environment. These contaminants are not physical particles such as those found in airborne dust or pathogens. AMC is gas molecules that are part of and move with air. These molecules are the result of outgassing or emissions from virtually anything that can be found in a given setting, from humans and animals to equipment, materials and processes, as well as external AMC sources. Sensitivity to these gases varies widely in each environment.

Hydrogen composes about 75% by mass of the normal matter in the universe, existing as H2 gas under standard conditions. This abundance of supply creates opportunities in numerous applications, including semiconductor manufacturing, for which hydrogen is considered a bulk gas and is employed in many parts of the ecosystem.

Are you looking for a supply partner to help you scale cell and gene therapy (CGT) manufacturing? Do you need a partner that can help you keep up with pre-existing capacity increases? These challenges may lead to some hard choices.