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News Classroom | How did Ukraine become the powerhouse of global neon gas production?

2022-03-31T03:42:19.126Z


Under the war between Russia and Ukraine, several major suppliers of neon gas in Ukraine were forced to suspend production, and chip manufacturers may face unstable supply of neon gas. What is the important role of neon gas in wafer production? How Ukraine became global


Under the war between Russia and Ukraine, several major suppliers of neon gas in Ukraine were forced to suspend production, and chip manufacturers may face unstable supply of neon gas.

What is the important role of neon gas in wafer production?

How did Ukraine become a global neon production powerhouse?


According to Stacy Rasgon, an analyst at asset management firm Bernstein, chip makers account for 75 percent of global demand for neon, with the rest being industrial lasers or lasers, and lasers such as LASIK.

Neon gas is an important raw material for semiconductor production.

After cutting cylindrical silicon ingots (ingots) into wafers, chip manufacturers use lasers to engrave circuit patterns on the wafers in a photolithography or lithography step, thereby making wafer.

Due to the tiny and precise chip circuits, manufacturers need to accurately control the wavelength of the laser, which is the function of neon.

Neon is an indispensable gas in the photolithography or lithography steps of wafer production.

(file picture)

Neon is an inert gas or buffer gas.

According to TrendForce, a market research company for the wafer industry, in deep ultraviolet (DUV) excimer lasers, an inert gas mixture is mixed with halogen (halogen) molecules, which are excited by electron beam energy to generate DUV wavelengths.

Among the inert gas mixtures required in DUV excimer lasers, neon is an essential gas.

To obtain neon gas, liquid neon can be separated from other elements from the air using air separation technology.

Neon, however, does not make up much of the air and requires an extremely large amount of air to make the amount required for semiconductor production.

Therefore, the more convenient and practical way to produce neon gas is the facilities that already use this technology for other purposes, that is, steel plants.

Between 45% and 54% of the world's semiconductor-grade neon gas is supplied by two Ukrainian companies, Ingas and Cryoin, located in Mariupol and Odesa, respectively.

The picture shows a group photo of Cryoin employees.

(Cryoin)

Neon gas is produced as a by-product of steelmaking in Russia, and Ukraine uses it to build a neon industry.

Lita Shon-Roy, CEO of semiconductor supply chain consultancy Techcet, explained: “Russian steel plants that have facilities to capture neon gas will bottle the neon gas and sell it as a virgin product. Then neon gas producers such as Cryoin are required to further Purify, remove other gases." The neon gas used in semiconductors needs to be 99.99% pure.

At present, Ukraine and Russia are important sources of gases required for wafer production, such as neon, argon (Argon), xenon (Xenon) and krypton (Krypton) in Ukraine, and hexafluorobutadiene (C4F6) in Russia.

While the numbers vary, Ukraine appears to be the powerhouse of global neon production.

According to estimates by Bernstein, consulting firms Bain & Co., Techcet and TrendForce, Ukraine accounts for 25%, 40%, half to nearly 70% of global semiconductor-grade neon gas production; Between 45% and 54% of the semiconductor-grade neon gas is supplied by two Ukrainian companies, Ingas and Cryoin.

The reason why the origin of neon gas is concentrated in Ukraine, according to the German Raw Materials Agency (DERA) in a white paper on noble gases in 2018, explained that the Soviet Union invested a lot of resources in the neon gas capture process that year, because it was expected to be used in the production of missiles and satellites. Must be used in defensive laser weapons.

Since then, with the closure of air separation units in steel mills around the world, Ukraine and Russia have taken a larger share of the neon export market.

Ukrainian gas company Ingas participated in the International Gas Technology Equipment and Application Exhibition held in China in 2018.

(Ingas)

"Break neon" under the Russia-Ukraine war Chip industry: can purchase from China

For details, please read the 310th issue of "Hong Kong 01" Electronic Weekly Newsletter (March 28, 2022) "

Breaking Neon" in the Russian-Ukrainian War, Will the Chip Shortage Make It Worse?

".

Click here

to try out the weekly e-newsletter for more in-depth reports.

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2022-03-31

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