[Advanced Materials] One Industry at a Time, Episode 6: Semiconductor Materials

General wet electronic chemicals usually refer to basic high-purity chemical types with relatively simple compositions and high standardization that are used in large quantities during manufacturing, mainly including high-purity acids, bases, organic solvents, and oxidants, primarily used for routine cleaning, etching, and other basic wet processes. Table 1: Classification of general wet electronic chemical products. Source: public information, compiled by Shenqitou Industry Research Institute. Domestic production of general wet electronic chemicals is advancing rapidly. In recent years, domestic companies have made significant breakthroughs in electronic-grade (semiconductor G5-level) hydrofluoric acid, sulfuric acid, hydrogen peroxide, phosphoric acid, nitric acid, ammonia water and other varieties, basically achieving large-scale supply for 12-inch wafer manufacturing at 28nm and above, and steadily advancing in applications at technology nodes below 28nm. In 2024, the industry's overall domestic production process accelerated, with core varieties such as electronic-grade hydrogen peroxide, sulfuric acid, hydrofluoric acid, and phosphoric acid performing particularly prominently. According to CEMIA statistics, the combined domestic market share of the above products has reached 55%, and general wet electronic chemicals for integrated circuits—the inorganic varieties used in larger quantities—can basically meet the needs of major domestic application manufacturers. However, current supply is still mainly concentrated in the local market, and global market share needs to be improved. I. Electronic-grade sulfuric acid. Electronic-grade sulfuric acid, also called high-purity sulfuric acid or ultra-pure sulfuric acid, is one of the acidic wet electronic chemicals used in the largest quantities in semiconductor manufacturing, widely used in cleaning, etching, photoresist removal and other key process steps. Among all application areas, integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing has the largest demand for electronic-grade sulfuric acid, especially in front-end cleaning processes for 8-inch and 12-inch wafers, requiring high-purity products meeting SEMI G4 to G5 standards. Besides semiconductors, electronic-grade sulfuric acid is also used in new displays and solar photovoltaics: in new displays, mainly for substrate cleaning in TFT array processes and organic residue removal in OLED device manufacturing; in solar photovoltaics, mainly for silicon wafer cleaning and texturing in N-type high-efficiency cells (such as TOPCon, HJT). The price of electronic-grade sulfuric acid is dozens of times that of industrial-grade sulfuric acid. According to a 2022 report by electronic materials market research firm TECHCET, global demand for electronic-grade sulfuric acid for integrated circuits is expected to increase to 1.075 million tons by 2025. According to the prospectus of Xingfu Electronics and data from the China Electronic Materials Industry Association, taking into account the demand for wet electronic chemicals from foreign manufacturers with plants in China such as Samsung Xi'an, SK Hynix China, and Intel Dalian, the total market demand for wet electronic chemicals for IC front-end wafer manufacturing in China in 2023 was 907,500 tons, of which electronic-grade sulfuric acid demand was 250,700 tons, accounting for 27.6%. According to Guohai Securities data, in 2022 China's semiconductor industry demand for electronic-grade sulfuric acid was 227,600 tons, and the display panel industry demand was 6,900 tons; by 2025 they are expected to grow to 433,600 tons and 14,200 tons, respectively. Figure 1: Demand for electronic-grade sulfuric acid in China's semiconductor and photovoltaic industries, 2020-2025 (10,000 tons).