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End market

Semiconductors

The chips that run everything with a plug or a battery.

Wafertraksystem · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Why it matters to materials

Modern logic uses about two-thirds of the stable elements somewhere in its process flow. Purity, not tonnage, is the constraint: parts per billion matter, and only a handful of suppliers on Earth can hold that specification.

Scale. The material bill of a chip is measured in grams, and it still depends on more distinct elements than almost any other product.

What it is made of

All materials →

Material	What it does here	Importance
Copper critical	On-chip interconnect	Defining
Gallium critical	Compound semiconductors for RF and power	Defining
Hafnium critical	High-k transistor gate dielectric	Defining
High-Purity Quartz	Crucibles for crystal growth	Defining
Silicon critical	The wafer	Defining
Tungsten critical	Contacts and vias	Defining
Arsenic critical	Dopant and GaAs	Important
Cobalt critical	Liner and interconnect at small nodes	Important
Germanium critical	SiGe transistors and optics	Important
Gold	Bonding and plating	Important
Helium	Cooling and leak detection	Important
Indium critical	Transparent contacts and III-V devices	Important
Ruthenium critical	Interconnect at the smallest nodes	Important
Silicon Carbide & Abrasives	Silicon carbide power devices and wafer polishing	Important
Tantalum critical	Diffusion barrier and capacitors	Important
Tin critical	EUV light source and solder	Important