WACKER develops a new precursor silane, consisting of silicon, carbon and chlorine, for the fabrication of highly integrated memory chips and microprocessors. This new product expands WACKER’s specialty portfolio for the semiconductor industry.

The new silane is used for chemical vapor deposition in semiconductor manufacturing.

The new silane reacts with the surface of the heated hyperpure silicon wafer to create an insulating layer with a low dielectric constant. This reduces electromagnetic interference on the charges moving at high frequency in the interconnects.

Thomas Koini, head of WACKER’s SILICONES division, pointed out that the product facilitates the development of computer chips with highly integrated and highly complex structures, which are increasingly required for applications that have to handle intensive computational tasks, such as artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, and cloud computing.

Solutions for the semiconductor industry

WACKER has been supplying raw materials and additives to the semiconductor industry for many years. The company is one of Europe’s largest polysilicon manufacturer.

Polycrystalline silicon is the basic raw material for the fabrication of hyperpure silicon wafers which in turn are processed in successive steps to the finished product – microchips.

WACKER is also a manufacturer of important process chemicals for the semiconductor industry. It also manufactures hydrogen chloride for etching wafers and cleaning coating equipment.