Core Definition

Vacuum technology refers to a comprehensive set of techniques that artificially reduce the gas pressure within a specific enclosed space below atmospheric pressure and maintain this state. In semiconductor manufacturing processes, "vacuum" serves not only as an environmental condition but also as the fundamental medium for achieving precision manufacturing—it provides a contamination-free and interference-free environment for material processing, enabling atomic-level precision manipulation.

[Core Features]

Clean and dust-free: The vacuum environment significantly reduces contamination from gas molecules in the process chamber. Semiconductor manufacturing requires ultra-high vacuum (pressure below 10⁻⁷ Pa) to prevent a single dust particle from rendering the entire chip defective.

Free-path control:

 The vacuum level determines the average free path of particles. Under high vacuum conditions, sputtered atoms or evaporated molecules can travel straight toward the substrate without collision, ensuring uniformity and orientation in thin film deposition.

Plasma Empowerment: By generating plasma through gas discharge in a vacuum environment, this technology enables thermodynamically challenging processes such as deposition and etching under low-temperature conditions, serving as the physical foundation for PVD, CVD, ALD, and etching techniques.

Precision Transmission:

 In a vacuum, the movement of electrons and ions is not hindered by gas molecular scattering. This property has led to the development of novel devices such as vacuum channel transistors, whose electron mobility far exceeds that of traditional semiconductors.