For fifteen years, this factory has focused on the manufacture of germane, a gas used to produce integrated circuits or photovoltaic cells. It also now manufactures diborane, a molecule specifically used in the field of semiconductors. Mixed with nitrogen or hydrogen, this special gas is used during the etching and deposition stages to manufacture electronic chips. These manufacturing scales relate to the infinitely small, where no mechanical drill can intervene to model the architecture of the components. With a surface area of 1 square centimeter, the chips can contain up to 238 layers and billions of miniature components, such as 10-nanometer transistors. They are “ten times smaller than a virus, 7000 times finer than a hair, we must therefore work at the molecular level, with special gases to deposit molecules and engrave the surfaces”, schematizes Guillaume Cottet, the head of the electronics division of Air Liquide.
This diborane unit is part of an investment of 200 million dollars (around 184 million euros), which also includes the construction of a similar unit in Taiwan, another essential semiconductor hub in Asia, behind the Chinese ogre, Japan or even Singapore. Boosted by technological advances in electronic goods and artificial intelligence, the chip market is enjoying colossal growth. Valued at $520 billion (480 billion euros) in 2023, it is expected to double by 2030 and generates hundreds of billions of industrial investments in the United States, Asia and, to a lesser extent, Europe.
In South Korea, Nicolas Foirien, the president of Air Liquide Korea, discusses “a spectacular increase in volumes in semiconductors, with units whose size has multiplied by five to ten in ten years”. And specifies that the two local champions Samsung and SK Hynix have “invested respectively 200 billion dollars and 100 billion dollars in ten years in the country”. On May 23, South Korea also unveiled a public support plan of more than 17 billion euros for its chip industry.
A broad portfolio of specialty gases
This race for capacity is coupled with a technological competition to further miniaturize and increase the performance of microprocessors and memories. A boon for Air Liquide and its special gases for electronics. Especially since the group would be “the only major gas company to have in its portfolio all the gases and molecules used to manufacture semiconductors”, assures Guillaume Cottet, specifying that “with Linde and Air Products [les deux principaux concurrents d’Air Liquide, ndlr] are only positioned in certain advanced materials”, as vectors for chemical vapor deposition and atomic layer deposition. In 2023, the electronics division represented 9% of the group’s €27.6 billion turnover. But these sales “have almost doubled in ten years”, indicates Guillaume Cottet.
The division is developing mainly in Asia, which represents 33% of its sales, compared to only 5% in the United States and 2% in Europe. In South Korea, Air Liquide has three electronics sites. In addition to that of Sejong, two are located southwest of Seoul: one in Hwaseong, which produces etching gases and silicon-based precursors, and one in Cheonan, which has been manufacturing precursors, silicon, since 2020. helium, xenon and krypton. Additional capabilities for “semiconductors and aerospace will be inaugurated there in a year”, underlines Armelle Levieux, the director of innovation responsible for hydrogen and electronics activities.
The group also produces large volumes of nitrogen, an inert gas used extensively in semiconductors to remove etching dust. These productions are located directly on the sites of the chip manufacturers. On the other hand, specialty gases are conveyed in the form of cylinders. Air Liquide also installs systems and equipment on customer sites to connect the cylinders to supply and connect the flows to the clean rooms where the semiconductors are produced.
In the post-Covid era, however, the world order has changed in this area. Highlighting geopolitical tensions, supply chain disruptions and customs barriers, François Jackow, CEO of Air Liquide, believes that “certain geographical areas have become aware of their dependence and their need for sovereignty”. And if major industrial investments flourish, “Customers are increasingly demanding localization of the supply chain. They are willing to pay more to benefit from greater resilience and security.” For special gases dedicated to electronics, the French group is now banking on smaller but more localized factories. Like here in South Korea.
A large integrated site in the United States
Investments in semiconductors are also increasing in the United States, which has not escaped Air Liquide. In June, the French group unveiled an investment of 250 million dollars (or a little more than 230 million euros) in Idaho. The group will build a large high-purity industrial gas plant near a memory chip production site of the American giant Micron Technology. Scheduled to enter service at the end of 2025, this plant will not only produce ultrapure nitrogen in large volumes. The units will also make it possible to manufacture all ranges of critical gases necessary for the production of memory chips, with the possibility of serving other local customers, in an even more integrated scheme than current projects in South Korea or Taiwan. . Air Liquide assures that this new factory will reduce energy and logistical needs, such as transporting special gas cylinders by truck to supply the Micron factory.
You are reading an article from L’Usine Nouvelle 3734 – September 2024
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