my country’s graphene single crystal research and development capabilities are strong and graphene single crystal wafers are expected to achieve large-scale production

Graphene is a new material that has been hotly researched in recent years. Due to its unique crystal structure, graphene has the advantages of high mechanical strength, good elasticity, stable chemical properties, excellent thermal conductivity, good electrical conductivity, and high light transmittance. It has been widely used in electronics and photonics. The academic field has broad market prospects. Ordinary graphene generally has a polycrystalline structure and suffers from grain boundary defects. The graphene single crystal produced using an improved method has better properties and can be used to manufacture wafers.

According to the “In-depth Market Research and Investment Strategy Suggestions Report on Graphene Single Crystal Industry 2021-2025” released by the Industrial Research Center, Graphene is mainly prepared by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), which is currently the mainstream process for graphene production in the industrial field. The graphene produced by the ordinary CVD method is polycrystalline graphene. In order to avoid the problem of grain boundary defects and further improve the properties of graphene, the CVD method has been improved in the scientific research field to produce graphene single crystals, and its growth rate has been greatly improved. The large-scale application of graphene single crystal in the wafer field has laid the foundation.

In 2015, a team from the Shanghai Institute of Microsystems and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, achieved controlled nucleation and rapid growth of a single graphene core for the first time in the world, and successfully developed a 1.5-inch graphene single crystal. In 2016, a team from Southern University of Science and Technology used chemical vapor deposition to increase the growth rate of graphene single crystals on polycrystalline copper substrates by 150 times to 60 μm/s in a pyrolyzed methane gas environment at around 1000°C. In 2019, the Wuhan University team increased the growth rate of large graphene single crystals on liquid copper to 79 μm/s based on the liquid metal chemical vapor deposition strategy.

Graphene single crystal can be used to produce wafers, which are the basis for chip preparation. my country’s chips rely heavily on imports. According to data released by the General Administration of Customs, from January to December 2021, my country’s integrated circuit imports reached 2,793.48 billion yuan, an increase of 15.4% from 2020. In the context of the increasingly intensifying Sino-US trade friction and the US cutting off chip supply to domestic companies such as Huawei, my country’s independent research and development and production needs for integrated circuits are extremely urgent. Graphene single crystal has become a new wafer manufacturing material and is expected to promote the development of my country’s chip industry.

According to the “In-depth Market Research and Investment Strategy Suggestions Report on Graphene Single Crystal Wafer Industry 2021-2025” released by the Industrial Research Center It shows that currently, global chip manufacturing uses silicon as the main raw material, and TSMC already has 2nm chip production capabilities. Compared with TSMC, American companies, and Korean companies, China’s chip R&D and production capabilities are weak. Graphene single crystal can replace traditional silicon materials to make wafers. Compared with traditional silicon wafers, the stability and performance of graphene single crystal wafers have been greatly improved. In order to achieve overtaking in corners, my country’s graphene single crystal wafers R&D investment in the wafer field continues to increase.

In 2020, a team from the Shanghai Institute of Microsystems and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, developed an 8-inch graphene single-crystal wafer and achieved pilot production. The product is an international leader in terms of size and performance. Currently, only my country has 8-inch graphene single-crystal wafers. inch graphene single crystal wafer production capacity.

Industry analysts said that domestic graphene single crystal wafers have been successfully developed and produced in small batches, and the use of graphene single crystal wafers Wafer manufacturing of chips does not require a photolithography machine. If mass production of chips can be achieved in the future, my country is expected to break the current monopoly of the domestic chip market by foreign companies. From this point of view, the future development prospects of the graphene single crystal and graphene single crystal wafer industry are extremely broad.