Articles

Manufacturers of Flow Control Solutions for Semiconductor and Fab Equipment

by Will S. Flow Meter and Switches

Manufacturing is defined as the process which is used to convert raw materials into finished products. The operation of manufacturing can be viewed as a system with supplies and raw materials serving as its input and the finished products serving as outputs. In the manufacturing of semiconductor, the input materials include dopants, metals, semiconductor materials, and insulators. While, the output materials include ICs, printed circuit boards, IC packages and several other electronic systems and products such as digital cameras, computers and cellular phones. The types of processes that are used in semiconductor manufacturing includes oxidation, etching, crystal growth, planarization, deposition processes, and photolithography.

Proteus Industries focuses on the requirement, types of flow controllers, characteristics, and gases currently utilized in semiconductor industry. The importance of flow control in semiconductor equipment processes is vital to the repeatability, manufacturing, and capability of integrated circuits. Today, in semiconductor industries different kinds of flow control solutions are becoming dominant. Thermal bases flow control solution is the most common variety in the whole industry. There are two types of sensors which are used in different industries like MEMS-based sensors and Coriolis. These sensors are not fully developed but can be found in semiconductor application in the future. Continued technological advancements, improvements, and feature sizes in semiconductor chip manufacturing have seen the arrival of faster, smaller, and newer fluid handling component. In addition, the trend shifting in the industry from single wafers to batch process has effected the components of the traditional gas system. The requirements of the performance had not been developed for the mass flow control in the semiconductor industry, materials that are applied set forth a specification to test and define the requirements. The technique best duplicates the behavior of gas which is trying to enter into a wafer process chamber.

Surrogate gasses which are normally referred to as calibration gases are used to best duplicate the nameplate gas. Mass flow control as calibrated for the nameplate gas which is the actual process gas. The relationship of calibration gases to name plate gas is utmost in understanding how to calibrate a mass flow control. These relationships are polynomial equations and nonlinear which can be created to best fit the function of this relationship. In addition, the relationships of nitrogen with all the gases are important, so that testing of mass flow control combined in to semiconductor equipment can be tested before the shipment and installation in the fab.

The evaluation of performance is extremely necessary for understanding which mass flow control system are best for a particular semiconductor process. The requirements of testing allows suppliers ranking, and interactive development of mass flow control with the instrument manufacturers. The improvements in diagnostics, digital communication, and calibration have improved the capability of mass flow control and allow process control methods to be applied. This process allows continuous improvements, which are necessary in the development of semiconductor process. 

Flow Control of Gas in Semiconductor Manufacturing

The semiconductor manufacturing process includes a stage in which the process gas is delivered to the tool according to a program that state a flow for a time period. This rate of flow is obtained by a mass flow controller, which is supplied with gas at a controlled pressure. The delivery of gas for semiconductor manufacturing by using a flow control system is possible in a flow mode for delivering a batch and likewise in a no-flow mode.

The Market of Mass Flow Control (MFC)

The market for water, air, fluid, and gas control and treatment will rise to $493 billion in 2017, which is not only based on expansion of the economy of the world but also on the response to the new regulatory developments and the rise of new technologies and industries. The MFC market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.5% between 2018 and 2023 and it is expected to increase from USD 1,119.5 million in 2018 to USD 1,495.1 million by 2022. The main factors influencing the growth of the market are the strategies, such as agreements, expansions, product launches, partnerships by the people operating in the MFC market as well as the increasing demand for mass controllers in the semiconductor industry for several applications.

Proteus Products

Our products are manufactured in California, Silicon Valley, USA and we offer five-year warranty for Flow Meters and Switches:

1.      WeldSaver 3- DeviceNet and Vortex Flow Sensors.

2.      WeldSaver 3- DeviceNet and Discrete I/O.

3.      WeldSaver 5 & 6.

Proteus provides a full line of instruments and flow control solutions for the semiconductor and fabrication equipment industry.


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About Will S. Freshman   Flow Meter and Switches

7 connections, 0 recommendations, 38 honor points.
Joined APSense since, March 28th, 2018, From Mountain View, United States.

Created on Apr 9th 2018 05:50. Viewed 645 times.

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