Usefulness Of Quartz Wafer Carrier In Wet Process

Some quartz products in the market today.
Photo credit: Imtec Acculine, Fremont, CA

Quartz wafer carrier is an important equipment that is widely used in the wet process industry today. It is useful to various sectors such as in the field of semiconductor, metallurgy, chemical industry, electric light source, photo-communication, medical equipment, and scientific instruments. This tool holds wafers of different diameters on their proper places as they undergo the laboratory processes. It can come in several designs, including the vertical, horizontal, the angle slot, and cage boats.

The use of this tool helps..

• provides no wafer pinching, chipping, micro-cracking, scratching, warping or breaking
• provides no crystal slip lines as well as bonded wafer separation problems
• helps reduce particle generation
• gives no wafer rattling during the boat movement
• gives an improved process uniformity

Why use quartz wafer over other types of wet process carrier? The reason is pretty simple: this material a number of advantages, including the following:

• Impermeability - quartz materials are well-known for their impermeability to most gases; meaning, they are capable of blocking out harmful gases (except for helium, hydrogen, and neon).
• Flexibility - they have properties that can make them into various designs and complex shapes; they can also be used in various temperature ranges  - from high to low temperature to vacuum environments.
• Mechanical properties - quartz materials are also known for their mechanical properties - e.g. extremely strong in compression; their compression property is stronger than 1.1x10 9 Pa (160,000 psi).
• Insulating property - they are considered to be superior when it comes to electrical insulating property; electrical insulation and microwave transmission properties are retained over a wide range of frequencies and even at very high temperatures.
• Reactivity - many wet process facilities choose quartz also because it does not react with other substances, which is ideal for materials used for process environments - materials that require a great deal of precision (e.g. chlorine, bromine, and other acids and metals do not react with quartz at realistic temperature).
  
  

Other quartz products

Aside from quartz boat carrier, there are other quartz products (check out that list from Imtec Acculine, Fremont, CA) that are available in the market today. All of them are useful in the wet process industry.