Ultra-pure quartz glass for microelectronics obtained

Oleg Penyazkov, Head of the Department of Physics and Chemistry of Nonequilibrium Media, reported that scientists expect to reach a production volume of about 1.5 tons of this glass per year in four years.

Scientists from the Institute of Heat and Mass Transfer of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus have developed a setup for producing ultra-pure quartz glass, which is promising for use in photolithography - a method of applying a pattern to glass in the production of microelectronics. This was reported by Oleg Penyazkov, Head of the Department of Physics and Chemistry of Nonequilibrium Media, at the All-Russian Conference with International Participation "Fuel Combustion: Theory, Experiment, Applications".

Photolithography is a method for producing patterns on the surface of various materials. This method is widely used in the production of printed circuit boards in microelectronics. In order to apply a pattern to glass, they must have a high degree of transparency. To obtain such glasses, scientists have created a compact setup using gas burner technologies.

"Thus, at the moment we are actually getting reliable samples of high-purity amorphous quartz glass weighing up to 2-3 kg," Penyazkov said, adding that a project has now been created that will increase the volume of glass production.

To create the material, the developers use a special precursor. Its molecule contains four silicon atoms connected to oxygen, and hydrocarbon compounds. The creation process is a layer-by-layer "growing" that can last from several days to several weeks. A special burner with 120 nozzles was created for the installation.

Scientists expect to reach a glass production volume of about 1.5 tons per year in four years, with subsequent replication up to 10-20 tons.

Source: nauka.tass.ru