Have you tried to machine thousands of very small diameter holes at accuracy of 10um on a single component? And in one setup?

If you are machining for the semiconductor industry, chances are that you have or have been asked to do.

Rapidly advancing technology is driving high demands for semiconductor components to arrive at smart end products. For that, parts like showerheads, solar panels and integrated circuits found in devices like phones and televisions are required in high numbers. Such components require CVD processes to produce free-standing thin material end products. 

Mostly in semiconductor industry, showerhead is used to evenly distribute or spread a gas state chemical on circuit board or LCD board for the purpose of coating/deposition. 

The gas state chemical goes through the showerhead that has thousands to 10 thousand holes that are evenly positioned and this makes the chemical evenly spread and be coated/deposited on the semiconductor board.  

Whether the showerhead can or cannot EVENLY distribute or spread the gas chemicals on the circuit board, plays a crucial role on determining the quality of semiconductor chips.

A Success Story

We share an experience from one of our customers who uses Hwacheon Double Column Machining Center L3 to successfully produce CVD showerheads.

The Customer

Established since 2013 in South Korea, the customer specializes in machining top quality LCD and semiconductor parts and supplying them to their customers globally. 

The Challenge

A recent project requires CVD showerhead in aluminium and overall size Ø2,000 x 1,700 x 40mm with 67,000 micro holes. Besides quick and prompt delivery, accuracy of each hole below 30μm is of utmost importance. 

Prior to using Hwacheon’s L3, the customer has tried to use its existing vertical machining centers but with unsatisfactory results. The customer hopes to find and use the right CNC machine for such applications as there are high demands in the industry.

The Solution

The only way to distribute chemicals evenly on the circuit board is to have evenly positioned holes on the showerhead. 

Using Hwacheon Double Column Machining Center L3, 67,000 micro holes were achieved. The positional accuracy of these holes on the showerhead a within 10um, even during 14 days (330 hours) of continuous machining. 

Double Column Machining Center L3

Besides its outstanding performance in semiconductor CVD components, Double Column Machining Center L3 is designed to machine long slender parts, large plates or multi clamping applications. 

Double Column Vertical Machining Center L3 features Made-by-Hwacheon BT-40 spindle with 12,000rpm, providing high flexibility to machine parts requiring long X-axis travels at high speed with best accuracy and top-quality surface finishes. 

With travel ranges of X = 3,000mm, Y = 1,800, Z = 500mm, it provides a combination with superior technology, machine design and built.

Also available Double Column Machining Centers L1 / L2 with travel ranges of X = 1,500 to 3,000mm, Y = 950 to 1,100, Z = 500mm.

For other machine demands in terms of size and table load, Hwacheon offers a comprehensive range of high-quality Double Column Machining Centres: 

SIRIUS-1250 / SIRIUS-1350 / SIRIUS-1750 / SIRIUS-2500

Contact us for more info or for a price estimate.