Silicon carbide vacuum chuck

GORGEOUS CERAMICS (GGS Ceramic) silicon carbide vacuum chucks are formed using isostatic pressing and high-temperature sintering. Their dimensions, thickness, and shape can be precision-machined according to user-designed drawings to meet specific application requirements.

Delivery cycle

GORGEOUS CERAMICS (GGS Ceramic) boasts a complete silicon carbide ceramic production line and a standard product inventory, enabling us to quickly respond to your R&D prototyping and mass production needs.

Standard products and samples are shipped within 2-3 weeks (including inventory checks, surface finishing, and testing); custom-made products are shipped within 4-6 weeks. We also support expedited services, providing priority access for your urgent products.

Clean Packaging and Safe Transportation

Silicon carbide vacuum chucks are high-hardness, high-precision, and fragile components. GORGEOUS CERAMICS (GGS Ceramic) imposes strict requirements on shockproof, dustproof, and moisture-proof protection during transportation.

• Cleaning and Dust Removal: Before leaving the factory, our products undergo ultrasonic/pure water cleaning and are dried and tested in a Class 100 cleanroom.
• Vacuum Packaging: We seal your vacuum suction cups in double-layer anti-static vacuum bags, with a high-density, high-elasticity EVA protective foam lining to prevent any impact.
• Shockproof Outer Packaging: The box is filled with 360° cushioning material to protect the product from impact and vibration during transportation.

Advantages of silicon carbide vacuum chucks

High-density, uniform micropore design

In semiconductor processes such as photolithography, inspection, and etching, a common pain point for customers is the increasingly thinner wafers, some even less than 100μm. If the vacuum chuck used has unevenly distributed vacuum micropores on its surface, uneven adsorption forces can lead to serious quality issues.

GORGEOUS CERAMICS (GGS Ceramic) utilizes isostatic pressing and micropore precision machining technology to achieve a “zero gradient” uniform distribution of vacuum pressure across the entire adsorption surface, achieving nanometer-level flatness.

Key technical indicators

The actual product may vary due to differences in manufacturing processes and processing precision.

Extremely high hardness and excellent wear resistance

In automated wafer handling equipment, the frequent friction between the vacuum chuck and the back of the wafer over a long period of time may cause surface damage and wear. The suction surface is prone to microscopic scratches, pits and edge chipping, which can lead to damage to the flatness of the wafer, posing a huge hidden danger to the wafer. Furthermore, friction can easily cause powder and particles to fall off and be adsorbed onto the back of the wafer, affecting subsequent photolithography and etching processes and resulting in waste wafers.

GORGEOUS CERAMICS (GGS Ceramic)’s silicon carbide vacuum chucks are made of high-purity, dense sintered silicon carbide with a Mohs value of 9.5, second only to diamond.

Ultra-high physical hardness: Effectively resists high-frequency friction from wafer edges, eliminating the risk of scratches and powder shedding on the adsorption surface.

Extremely low wear rate: Guaranteed no particle shedding or powder loss during millions of adsorption and handling cycles, meeting the high cleanliness requirements of Class 1/10 cleanrooms!

Reduced equipment downtime: Our silicon carbide suction cups reduce maintenance frequency due to wear/contamination by 65% ​​compared to common vacuum suction cups on the market.

Longer service life: Our silicon carbide vacuum suction cups boast a longer and superior service life. Statistics show that customers’ total consumable costs per unit over the entire lifecycle are reduced by 40%.

Multiple mechanical properties

Ultra-high purity, meeting semiconductor cleanliness requirements

Trace amounts of metal ion contamination have always been a key cause of wafer electrical performance failure and yield degradation. If the purity of the chuck is insufficient, metal ions such as Fe, Ni, Cr, and Cu can easily precipitate during long-term use.

GORGEOUS CERAMICS (GGS Ceramic) silicon carbide vacuum chucks achieve a purity of up to 99%. With semiconductor-grade high purity, they can control grain boundary impurities to the PPM or even PPB level, fundamentally preventing contamination.

Furthermore, silicon carbide possesses excellent corrosion resistance. Ordinary ceramic chucks are prone to surface particle detachment and residual ions after SPM or HF cleaning, while silicon carbide can withstand high-frequency cleaning with strong acids and alkalis (such as HF, HNO₃, HCl, SPM, APM) without these problems.

Applications of silicon carbide vacuum chucks

Used in photolithography and optical inspection equipment

Our silicon carbide vacuum chucks are compatible with lithography machines of 28nm and below, wafer inspection (AOI) equipment, thin film thickness inspection equipment, etc. The products boast extremely high flatness, reducing focus deviation by over 35%, improving edge detection accuracy and the overlap of lithographic patterns.

Manufacturers and equipment compatible with GORGEOUS CERAMICS (GGS Ceramic) silicon carbide vacuum chucks

Compatible with various ASML lithography machines:

• EUV Lithography Machines: TWINSCAN NXE:3400C, NXE:3600D, High-NA EUV (EXE:5000), etc.
• Immersion DUV Lithography Machines: TWINSCAN NXT:1980Di, NXT:2000i, etc.
• Dry DUV Lithography Machines: TWINSCAN XT:1460K, NXT:870

Compatible with various Nikon lithography machines:

• ArFi immersion lithography machines: NSR-S635E, NSR-S631D
• ArF/KrF lithography machines: NSR-S322G, NSR-S220D

Compatible with various Canon lithography machines：

• Nanoimprint lithography machine: FPA-1200NZ2C
• i-line / KrF lithography machines: FPA-5520iV, FPA-6300ES6a

Used for ultra-thin wafer thinning, dicing, and handling

Our silicon carbide vacuum chucks are compatible with the wafer processing of various TSV, Fan-out advanced packaging, and power devices. Their microporous global adsorption technology perfectly adsorbs wafers with a breakage rate as low as 0.05%.

Compatible with various KLA wafer defect inspection and measurement equipment:

• Bright-field/dark-field wafer inspection system: Surfscan SP7 / SP7XP, 2950 series, 39xx series (Gen3)
• Overlay alignment measurement system: Archer 750 / Archer 800
• CD-SEM critical size scanning electron microscope: eSL10

Compatible with various Applied Materials equipment:

• Optical/Electron Beam Inspection Equipment: Enlight Optical Inspection System, SEMVision G7/G8 Electron Beam Inspection Instrument
• Onto Innovation Automated Appearance Inspection (AOI) for Wafers: Dragonfly G3/G4, Firefly Series

Compatible with various Hitachi High-Tech equipment:

• CD-SEM (Burst Measurement/Critical Size Electron Microscope): CG6300, CG7300, etc.

FAQ

What is the purity level of SiC from GGS Ceramic? Will it cause heavy metal contamination on the wafer?

GORGEOUS CERAMICS (GGS Ceramic) provides silicon carbide vacuum chucks with a purity ≥99%. Furthermore, we conduct rigorous testing to control heavy metal impurities such as Fe, Ni, Cr, and Cu to PPM or even PPB levels, ensuring no metal ion release or other issues.

What are the advantages of microporous chucks over ultra-thin wafers?

Ultra-thin wafers can experience microscopic warping and edge lifting when subjected to uneven vacuum suction. GORGEOUS CERAMICS (GGS Ceramic) chucks utilize a uniformly distributed precision microporous design, resulting in a zero-gradient distribution of vacuum suction force across the entire area, providing more stable and stress-free support.

What sizes and precisions does GGS Ceramic support for customization?

GORGEOUS CERAMICS (GGS Ceramic) supports standard discs from 2 inches to 12 inches and even larger, as well as custom-shaped parts. Flatness is ≤ 3 μm, and the highest precision requirements can be reduced to ≤ 1 μm.

How should silicon carbide vacuum chucks be cleaned?

Silicon carbide has extremely strong chemical inertness and can withstand strong acids, strong alkalis, and oxidizing agents commonly used in semiconductor factories (such as HF hydrofluoric acid, HNO₃ nitric acid, SPM, APM, etc.). We recommend that you use ultrasonic cleaning with pure water for routine maintenance, and use acid or alkaline solutions for cleaning when heavily soiled.