The "new darling" of A-shares: What is PEEK?

The end of the year is approaching, the A-share PEEK material sector ushered in a collective outbreak, on Wednesday Zhongxin fluorine materials out of the 3 boards, Xinhan new materials rose, Zhongyan shares, Huami new materials, etc. have risen sharply.

According to the latest research report of Guojin Securities, the domestic demand for PEEK materials is expected to increase from 1.5 billion yuan in 2022 to more than 16.7 billion yuan in 2027.

So what exactly is PEEK material? In this regard, Zhao Naidi and Zhou Jianuo analysts of Everbright Securities gave a detailed introduction in the research report released last week.

What is PEEK?

Polyetheretherketone (PEEK), a special polymer material.

PEEK has excellent comprehensive properties such as heat resistance, abrasion resistance, fatigue resistance, radiation resistance, peel resistance, creep resistance, flexibility, dimensional stability, impact resistance, chemical resistance, non-toxicity, flame retardant, etc., and its performance is significantly better than that of other engineering plastics or metal materials.

With its excellent performance, PEEK can meet a variety of key engineering requirements at the same time, so it is widely used in many fields such as electronic and electrical, aerospace, automotive, energy and other industrial and medical fields.

PEEK is widely used in semiconductor manufacturing

In the semiconductor industry, PEEK can withstand high temperatures of up to 260°C and various chemicals, which can reduce wafer cooling time and improve production efficiency.

At the same time, PEEK particles have a low generation rate and high purity, which reduces the amount of wafer degassing and extractables, reduces the probability of electrostatic breakdown of the wafer, and can also significantly improve the wafer yield.

Therefore, PEEK is widely used in the manufacture of high-performance plastic parts such as CMP retaining rings, wafer carriers, wafer clamps, etc., and PEEK and its composite reinforced resins can replace traditional materials such as copper alloys, stainless steel, PTFE, PPS and other engineering plastics. In addition, the effects of static electricity can be reduced by adding an antistatic material to PEEK.

The demand for CMP retaining rings is expected to continue to increase

Everbright Securities said that with the continuous progress of semiconductor technology, the upgrading of chip manufacturing technology, and the rapid development of the third-generation semiconductor industry, the demand for CMP equipment is increasing day by day, and the CMP retaining ring is a consumable and the replacement frequency will be higher, and the demand for PEEK is expected to continue to increase in the future.

CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) is a key technology to achieve surface planarization of wafers in the process of IC chip manufacturing, and is usually referred to as the five core key technologies of IC manufacturing together with PVD/CVD, lithography, etching, and ion implantation.

CMP equipment includes three modules: polishing, cleaning and conveying, among which the polishing head and its pressure control system are the most critical and complex components, which are the foundation and core of CMP technology to achieve nano-level planarization. The polishing head presses the surface of the wafer to be polished against the rough polishing pad, and realizes global flattening with the coupling of polishing slurry corrosion, particle friction, and polishing pad friction. 、

The retaining ring is one of the core accessories of the CMP polishing head, which is a consumable product, which can effectively prevent the "over-grinding" phenomenon on the edge of the wafer.

The CMP retaining ring should have the characteristics of high wear resistance, high purity, high processing accuracy, high material stability and low vibration to reduce the occurrence of micro-scratches in the wafer, and the selection of the corresponding material should be matched with it.

At present, the main CMP retaining ring materials are PPS and PEEK. Among them, PPS is the most mainstream CMP retaining ring material, but PEEK has gradually replaced the current PPS in the chemical mechanical polishing process of semiconductor manufacturing due to its excellent performance.

Everbright Securities pointed out that in recent years, the global market size of CMP equipment has shown an overall growth trend, and the market size of CMP equipment in Chinese mainland ranks first.

According to SEMI data, in 22, the global CMP equipment market size was $2.778 billion, with a compound growth rate (CAGR) of 4.2% from 2017 to 2022, and the CMP equipment market size in Chinese mainland was $666 million, a year-on-year increase of 35.9%, and the CAGR from 2017 to 2022 was 24.8%.

The recovery of the global semiconductor industry and the continuous expansion of wafer foundry capacity in Chinese mainland have boosted PEEK demand

Everbright Securities said that with the recovery of the global semiconductor industry and the continuous expansion of wafer foundry capacity in Chinese mainland, the demand for various tools and parts in the semiconductor process is expected to increase, and PEEK has gradually realized the upgrading and replacement of PPS, PP and other materials with its excellent performance, PEEK has a large demand space in the semiconductor field, and the PEEK industry will continue to develop well.

In 2023, the global semiconductor industry will still show destocking characteristics, and the industry will enter a downward cycle, which will have a negative impact on the demand for upstream semiconductor materials. However, since Q2 2023, the domestic semiconductor industry has generally shown a recovery trend.

According to the data of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), the global semiconductor sales in Q1-Q3 of 2023 will be 1195.0, 1267.0, and 134.66 billion US dollars respectively, a year-on-year decrease of 21.3%, 15.8%, and 4.5%, respectively, and the decline will continue to narrow.

At the same time, the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics Organization (WSTS) predicts that the global semiconductor market will increase by 11.8% year-on-year to $576 billion in 2024, and is expected to recover.

The main views of this article come from Everbright Securities, the original author: Zhao Naidi, Zhou Jianuo, the original title: "PEEK material semiconductor market is broad, domestic enterprises can be expected to increase volume"

赵乃迪执业证书编号：S0930517050005

Zhou Jianuo's practice certificate number: S0930523070007

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