Large-size silicon carbide single crystal has become a development trend. my country’s research and development level is advanced.

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a third-generation semiconductor material with the advantages of high frequency, high voltage, high power and low power consumption. Silicon carbide in the single crystal state is silicon carbide single crystal, which is an important wide bandgap semiconductor material and mainly includes isomers such as 3C, 4H, and 6H. The silicon nitride substrate prepared from silicon carbide single crystal is a key basic material for manufacturing silicon carbide devices. In order to reduce the production cost of silicon carbide devices, large-size silicon carbide single crystals have become a development trend.

The silicon carbide industry chain includes substrate manufacturing, epitaxial growth, device manufacturing, downstream applications and other links. Among them, the manufacturing process of silicon carbide substrate is difficult and valuable. It accounts for 45% of the cost of the device and is the core link. The silicon carbide substrate manufacturing process mainly includes material synthesis, single crystal growth, crystal cutting, wafer polishing and cleaning, etc. Among them, silicon carbide single crystal growth is the core process and technical difficulty. It can be seen from this that the silicon carbide single crystal industry has high technical barriers.

According to the “In-depth Market Research and Investment Strategy Suggestions Report on Large-Size Silicon Carbide Monocrystal Industry 2022-2026” released by the Industrial Research Center It shows that at present, the sizes of globally commercialized silicon carbide single crystals are mainly 4 inches and 6 inches. The larger the size, the more chips can be produced after being manufactured into a substrate, and the lower the cost of silicon carbide devices. Therefore, large-size silicon carbide Single crystal has become a development trend. Cree of the United States is the world’s leading silicon carbide company. It has successfully grown 8-inch large-size silicon carbide single crystals, but it has not yet been put on the market. It is more difficult to grow large-sized silicon carbide single crystals, which requires higher requirements in terms of seed crystal development, temperature field uniformity control, stress control, and raw material distribution.

Silicon carbide single crystal growth methods mainly include chemical vapor deposition, physical vapor transport, liquid phase, etc. Among them, the physical vapor transport method (PVT method) is currently the mainstream preparation method for silicon carbide single crystal, and the process is the most mature. However, the PVT method has the disadvantage that defects are difficult to control during the crystal growth process. The silicon carbide single crystal grown by the liquid phase method is of higher quality, has obvious advantages in the preparation of large-size silicon carbide single crystals, and has more development potential in the future.

my country has begun research on silicon carbide single crystal growth around 2000. Representative institutions are mainly the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Silicon Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shandong University, etc. The team from the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences grew a 2-inch silicon carbide single crystal in 2005, a 4-inch silicon carbide single crystal in 2010, and a 6-inch silicon carbide single crystal in 2014. The main silicon carbide single crystal manufacturers in my country include Tianke Heda, Shandong Tianyue, etc. Tianke Heda cooperates with the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to industrialize the latter’s research results and has mass production capabilities of 4-inch and 6-inch silicon carbide single crystals.

Industry analysts said that driven by the rapid development of 5G, new energy vehicles and other industries, the demand for silicon carbide monocrystalline will continue to grow in 2021 In 2018, global silicon carbide single-wafer production reached approximately 190,000 pieces. In the global market in 2021, the average unit price of 4-inch silicon carbide single crystal will be around 2,500 yuan, and the average unit price of 6-inch silicon carbide single crystal will be around 7,000 yuan. If 8-inch large-size silicon carbide single crystal is put into the market, its average unit price will reach More than 10,000 yuan. Large-size silicon carbide single crystals can not only reduce the costs of downstream enterprises, but also improve the core competitiveness of manufacturing enterprises and enhance their profitability.

In October 2021, a team from the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences grew an 8-inch large-size silicon carbide single crystal on a self-developed substrate. This shows that my country’s large-size silicon carbide single crystal research and development capabilities have reached the international advanced level. After realizing industrialization in the future, it will enhance the international competitiveness of my country’s silicon carbide single crystal industry and further accelerate the development of my country’s silicon carbide device industry.