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Home > Markets > Semiconductor > China Semiconductor Research
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Swagelok Provides Solution to China’s Semiconductor Research
 In its Five-Year Plan for national development in 2001, the Chinese government specified the importance of the research and development (R&D) of Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) technology. Since then, the Institute of Semiconductor, at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has bolstered its R&D capabilities for innovating and bringing to market MOCVD technology.
The Beijing-based research institute focuses on promoting the development and introduction of semiconductor materials science in China. In the last six years, they have fabricated one of the first cubic-phase GaN light emitting diodes in the world. After successfully transferring blue-LED technology to the production environment they focused their efforts on short-wavelength laser diodes, UV detectors, high efficiency LEDs, and magnetic semiconductors. Recently the institute succeeded in the fabrication of several kinds of highly responsive UV photodetectors and has made significant progress in development of blue laser diodes.
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Team of highly skilled Swagelok associates specialized in providing solutions for semiconductor support industry development in China. |
MOVD technology involves a chemical reaction between organic metals and special gases in a reactor. Atoms are deposited by decomposing organic molecules while they are passed over a hot substrate. The undesired remnants are removed or deposited on the walls of the reactor. III-V semiconductors of high purity and structural order are produced by MOCVD. As the process requires regular flows of poisonous and highly inflammable gases, the gas flow system has to be extremely reliable to ensure safety. Swagelok products were adopted as the key gas control components in the gas reaction unit.
The high purity manufacturing facilities and team of customer-focused associates dedicated to semiconductor technology innovation at Swagelok Semiconductor Services Company (SSSC) made Swagelok the ideal choice in providing solutions to the Institute of Semiconductor. SSSC delivers rapid quotes, responsive order fulfillment, expert customer and technical service, and fast product analysis to meet the needs of the fast-paced and highly interactive nature of technology development in the semiconductor industry.
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A Swagelok associate helps fulfill his customer’s order of semiconductor valves and fittings at Swagelok’s China headquarters in Shanghai. | | As yet, there is still no specialized MOCVD equipment producer in China. Local companies have to spend a large amount of foreign exchange on importing equipment. Units are expensive to import, with maintenance expensive and component availability poor. The cost for basic MOCVD units developed in China is as low as one third of comparable imported units. The R&D work of the Institute of Semiconductor is therefore crucially important to the development of the semiconductor industry in China.
In developing the multiple-wafer GaN-producing MOCVD unit, researchers at the Institute of Semiconductor found the design of gas inlets and outlets in the existing model to be inadequate: a five-way valve was used with two for gas inlets and three for gas outlets, controlled by a manually operated switch. Both the gas inlet and the precision of gas flow regulation were poor, causing “dead zones” in gas flow. A redesign of the whole gas flux process was therefore necessary. Project inspection was drawing near, and researchers needed a specialized fluid system provider who could offer an exceptional single solution to meet their specific needs including help with their gas route design, component selection, and the welding of the assembly. The integrated team of Swagelok associates in China and the United States were able to meet such a challenge.
Experienced Swagelok sales and service representatives and field engineers acted as advisors to evaluate the demands placed on the researchers. Engineers then assisted in redesigning the gas route according to those needs. Swagelok came up with two solutions, one for a regular gas source and another for a metal-organic source. The final procurement list included 46 Swagelok® 6LVV series valve components, over 1,300 VCR® and Micro-Fit® fittings. The system includes a pressure-balancing device and fast-switching manifold, ensuring fast and smooth switching of different routes.
Wang Xiaohui, project leader at the Institute of Semiconductor comments, “Swagelok provided us with high quality products and service. Their integrated services not only resolved our technical difficulties in a flexible way, but also saved us time and money, enabling us to focus on research. We felt very comfortable to leave all the fluid system issues to Swagelok.”
The project lasted 6.5 months. Swagelok’s Beijing sales and service representatives coordinated the project, working closely with Swagelok China headquarters in Shanghai and U.S. headquarters in Cleveland.
Swagelok technical staff not only provided important advice on improving the design draft, but also helped the Institute of Semiconductor choose appropriate valves and fittings. Swagelok provided further tailored solutions by pre-assembling modular platform components for the project at the Swagelok factory in the United States, and delivering the product as a whole unit, thereby reducing installation time and cost. This approach greatly improved the integrity of the whole gas system and linearity of regulation, bringing reassurance to the system’s safety, reliability and performance.
 Project Coordinator at Swagelok, Li Weisheng, recalls, “In the process of developing a solution we made more than 30 site visits to the Beijing facilities to provide technical support. The key to the successful completion of this project was our high-quality products, unique integrated services, and tight cooperation among our China and U.S. teams and the Institute of Semiconductor.”
Swagelok offers a broad line of high-purity and ultrahigh-purity fluid system components for semiconductor applications, including diaphragm valves, fluoropolymer valves and tubing, PFA fittings, ceramic filters, UHP transducers, IGC® II modular gas systems, and vertical flow sensors. The company continues to anticipate the demands made on customers and continues to develop innovative new products to support the growth of the semiconductor industry. |
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