
These ingots are manufactured at an almost unbelievable level of purity around 99.999999999%.įrom this material, wafers of standard industry sizes – the largest of which are typically 300 millimeters (mm) – are sliced at a thickness of about 1 mm. Silica rocks are reduced to silicon metal in a special furnace from which polycrystalline silicon ingots are produced. Polycrystalline Silicon Ingots and Silicon Wafers This is the material from which semiconductors are made. Today, we’re going to have a look at silicon wafers. And in order to do that, we need to dig even deeper into the semiconductor supply chain. To get an even better understanding of what is happening in the industry, we have to look farther out. We’ll start to see some of the pressure lift in the second half of this year, but shortages in certain areas will persist into 2023. And because the more mature manufacturing processes weren’t used to these kinds of spikes, we ended up with quite the shortage. This increased demand for semiconductors of all kinds. The economy was incredibly strong going into the pandemic, and consumption actually accelerated as a result of it.

The industry continues to invest over $100 billion a year in new manufacturing capacity. Most have said that this is a supply chain problem, or that there is a lack of investment from semiconductor companies. These are the kinds of semiconductors that are typically used in cars, household appliances, and other electronics that aren’t particularly sensitive to size and power consumption. Where the industry has struggled to meet demand is in more mature semiconductors that have been used for years. The semiconductor industry has managed to meet most demand for the leading edge – most advanced – semiconductors that are used in the highest-volume consumer products such as smartphones. But Bleeding Edge readers know that they aren’t. The headlines tend to be generic, as if all semiconductors are alike. The semiconductor shortage continues to grab headlines as the world sees ongoing product shortages due to the absence of key semiconductors. New York Fashion Week is headed to the metaverse.

This “Golden Ticket” NFT has some incredible perks.
