Cutting-edge Materials Have Become The Heavy Weapon Of The Country, Taking The Lead in Three Directions To Take Off
With the support of national policies for new materials and their downstream products in aerospace, military, consumer electronics, automotive electronics, photovoltaic electronics, biomedical fields, the market demand continues to expand, and the requirements for product performance continue to improve. With the rapid expansion, the requirements for the research and development capabilities of enterprises and scientific researchers are constantly increasing.
The downstream consumer electronics, new energy, semiconductor, carbon fiber and other industries are accelerating their transfer to China, and there is an urgent need for localization of new materials. Import substitution will continue to promote the future development of investment in my country's new material industry.
One of the new material directions: lightweight materials
1. Carbon fiber
Carbon fiber materials are used in aerospace, wind power, sports and leisure, automobiles and other fields with their excellent properties. They are the most widely used and market-oriented materials in the field of new materials, and are known as "the king of new materials". The global carbon fiber market demand has grown rapidly in recent years, and my country has also seized the opportunity to develop into the world's second largest carbon fiber producer.
However, compared with foreign countries, my country's carbon fiber industry still has the problems of low capacity utilization, few high-end products, and difficult application and development. The downstream industry still relies heavily on imported carbon fiber products. In the current international environment, realizing the dual autonomy of carbon fiber scale production and application development is the key to enhancing my country's national defense and manufacturing strength and ensuring the stability of the supply chain.
Carbon fiber (Carbon Fiber) is a carbon backbone structure inorganic fiber with carbon content higher than 90% formed by the pyrolysis and carbonization of organic fibers such as polyacrylonitrile (PAN) (or pitch, viscose) in a high temperature environment, as a high-performance material. Produced in the 1960s.
Carbon fiber has excellent mechanical properties and chemical stability: As the fiber with the highest specific strength (strength specific density) and the highest specific stiffness (modulus specific density) among the high-performance fibers that are currently mass-produced, carbon fiber is an important part of aerospace, wind power Ideal materials for blades, new energy vehicles and other fields with lightweight requirements. The characteristics of corrosion resistance, high temperature resistance and small expansion coefficient make it a substitute for metal materials in harsh environments; in addition, the electrical and thermal conductivity properties expand its application in the field of communication electronics.
According to the number of filaments in each bundle of carbon fibers, carbon fibers are generally divided into two categories: small tow and large tow. Small tow has better performance but higher price, and is generally used in high-tech fields such as aerospace and military industry, as well as high-end sporting goods; large tow has a lower cost and is often used in basic industries, including civil construction, transportation, and energy equipment, etc. .
2. Aluminum alloy automobile body panel
Aluminum alloy is the most widely used alloy in industry, and has been widely used in aviation, aerospace, automobile, machinery manufacturing, shipbuilding and chemical industries. Under the guidance of the national policy of energy conservation and emission reduction, it is difficult for the automobile industry to meet the increasingly strict national fuel emission standards only by optimizing the energy consumption of automobiles by design. Therefore, the lightening of automobiles is the development direction determined by the industry.
Aluminum alloy is the main lightweight material in the automotive industry. Among them, the aluminum alloy body sheet (ABS) is used in the heaviest body of the car and is the key material to achieve the goal of lightweight. At present, my country has gradually opened up the domestic aluminum alloy market for automobiles, and even some companies have begun to export, including domestic and foreign companies that produce in domestic factories. The localization of aluminum alloy body panels is the key to improving the competitiveness of my country's auto industry and helping the country achieve the goal of energy conservation and emission reduction.
The second direction of new materials: aerospace materials
1. Polyimide
Polyimide (PI) materials have high application value in many cutting-edge fields such as aerospace, high-end electronic components, and semiconductors, and play an important role in material renewal and iteration. At present, the global polyimide market demand continues to grow, but the mass production of many high-end PI products and special functional PI products is still monopolized by a few developed countries, and the relevant production technologies are strictly protected.
At present, my country has achieved large-scale production in the field of low-end PI films and PI fibers, and has achieved global competitiveness in the field of electrical-grade PI films. However, high-end PI films and other high-end PI products still face the problem of "stuck neck" or insufficient production capacity, resulting in an obvious structural supply-demand imbalance. Breaking through the mass production of high-end polyimide products is of great significance to the upgrading of my country's manufacturing industry, the upgrading of armaments, and the independent controllability.
Polyimide (PI) is an organic polymer material with outstanding comprehensive properties, and is known as "one of the most promising engineering plastics in the 21st century". The material can be used in a wide temperature range, can work in the environment of -200 to 300 °C for a long time, and can withstand high temperatures above 400 °C for a short time.
Polyimide has no obvious melting point and is the most high-temperature resistant polymer material that can be practically used at present. At the same time, the material also has the characteristics of high dielectric strength, solvent resistance, radiation resistance, thermal insulation, non-toxic, sound absorption and noise reduction, and easy installation and maintenance.
At present, polyimide has been widely used in aerospace, shipbuilding, semiconductor, electronic industry, nanomaterials, flexible display, laser and other fields. According to the specific product form, polyimide can be subdivided into PI foam, PI film, PI fiber, PI matrix composite, PSPI and other products.
2. Silicon carbide fiber
Silicon carbide fiber (SiC fiber) is another new type of high-performance fiber developed after carbon fiber, and it is a national strategic emerging material. At present, the application value of ceramic matrix composites made of silicon carbide fibers in the field of aero-engines is very significant. Western developed countries have successfully applied such products to improve many parts of aero-engines and improve the efficiency of aero-engines. With the further improvement of the performance of silicon carbide fiber and the gradual optimization of the production process, the material is expected to be applied in more aero-engine components in the future, and is expected to be expanded to other high-value civilian fields, with a broad potential market space.
The third direction of new materials: semiconductor materials
1. Silicon wafer
Silicon wafers are located in the upstream of the semiconductor industry chain and are the main raw materials for semiconductor devices and solar cells. They are mainly used in photovoltaic and semiconductor fields. The downstream demand has been increasing in recent years. In terms of different fields, most of the production capacity of photovoltaic silicon wafers is concentrated in my country. Leading companies such as Zhonghuan and LONGi have strong strength and leading production technology levels in the world. Compared with photovoltaic silicon wafers, semiconductor silicon wafers have more complex production processes and application scenarios. However, my country's semiconductor silicon wafer industry started late and its development level is relatively backward. The global market is monopolized by Japanese manufacturers. The mainstream 12-inch silicon wafers in the market have not yet reached large-scale production in my country, and they are heavily dependent on imports. , The domestic enterprises represented by the Shanghai silicon industry are striving to break the technical barriers, and there is a broad space for localization and substitution.
Silicon is a good semiconductor material with good high temperature resistance and radiation resistance, and is especially suitable for making high-power devices. Using silicon as a raw material, a silicon rod is made by pulling a single crystal, and then cutting to form a silicon wafer. Silicon wafers are mainly used in the two major fields of semiconductor and photovoltaic. Semiconductor wafers have higher requirements than photovoltaic wafers in terms of crystal, shape, size, and purity. The purity of photovoltaic silicon wafers requires a silicon content between 4N-6N. (99.99%-99.9999%), silicon wafers for semiconductors are around 9N-11N (99.9999999%-99.999999999%), the production process is more complicated, and the downstream applications are also more extensive. Silicon wafers for semiconductors are located at the most upstream of the industrial chain, mainly used in integrated circuits, discrete devices and sensors. They are the key materials for manufacturing chips and affect the development of further downstream industries such as automobiles and computers. They are the cornerstone of the semiconductor industry chain.
Photovoltaic industry is one of the national strategic emerging industries. Photovoltaic silicon wafers are located in the upstream of the photovoltaic industry chain, and their demand has been rising in recent years. According to the forecast of CPIA, the annual installed capacity of the global photovoltaic market will reach 150GW in 2021. market and development prospects. my country is the world's largest producer of monocrystalline silicon wafers for photovoltaics. According to statistics from the Silicon Industry Branch of China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, by the end of 2019, my country's monocrystalline silicon wafer production capacity was 115GW, accounting for 97.6% of the world's total. Leading companies LONGi and Zhonghuan occupy more than 50% of the domestic market share of monocrystalline silicon wafers, and in the process of continuous expansion of production capacity, new power companies CNC and Beijing Express are also accelerating production expansion.
Benefiting from the technological progress of semiconductor products and the increase in the category of downstream related electronic consumer goods, the demand for semiconductor silicon wafers has increased year by year, and the scale has continued to grow. In 2020, the global semiconductor wafer shipments will reach 1.241 billion square inches. The size of the global silicon wafer market has reached about 11 billion US dollars, and the market prospect of semiconductor silicon wafers is broad.
Due to the high technical barriers in the semiconductor wafer industry, today's global semiconductor wafer industry is monopolized by giants, with a high degree of concentration, and the number of manufacturers in mainland China is small. In 2020, the world's top five silicon wafer suppliers are Shin-Etsu, Japan, SUMCO, Taiwan, China, GlobalWafers, Germany's Silitronic, and South Korea's SKSiltron. The total market share exceeds 80%, and the market share of Shanghai silicon industry, a local manufacturer in mainland my country, is about 2.2%, and the volume is relatively small.
The larger the wafer size, the higher the production efficiency per wafer. Since the 1970s, silicon wafers have been developing in the direction of large size. Today, the largest mass-produced silicon wafer in the world is 300mm, which is a 12-inch silicon wafer.
The demand for 12-inch wafers has been rising in recent years. According to Japan's Shengco forecast, the CAGR of 12-inch wafers in 2020-2024 can reach 5.1%. The global semiconductor wafer production capacity is mainly concentrated in the industry giants. my country's semiconductor wafers started late and developed relatively backward. Only a few companies have the productivity of 200mm (8-inch) wafers. my country's 12-inch wafers were not available before 2017. All rely on imports.
The production of large silicon wafers has high requirements on the purity of silicon, and also has very high requirements on the processing technology of chamfering and precision grinding. my country's technology level is backward, and the large-scale production of 12-inch silicon wafers has not yet been achieved. The Shanghai silicon industry achieved large-scale sales of 12-inch silicon wafers in 2018, breaking the situation that the domestic production rate of large-sized silicon wafers was 0.
12-inch silicon wafers are still the mainstream of today's silicon wafer market, domestic manufacturers have the opportunity to catch up, and there is still a large space for domestic replacement of large-sized silicon wafers. In order to promote the localization process of semiconductor silicon wafers, an important material, the Chinese government has also issued a series of policies to support industrial development, promote the R&D and manufacturing of large-size silicon wafers, and promote the development of the semiconductor industry.
2. Silicon carbide (SiC)
Silicon carbide is a third-generation semiconductor material with very superior performance and is an important raw material for power devices. In recent years, countries have invested a lot of manpower and material resources to develop related industries. The threshold for the silicon carbide industry is relatively high, and the level of production technology in my country is relatively backward. The current industrial structure is characterized by the dominance of the United States. Cree alone accounts for 62% of the global share of conductive silicon carbide wafers. The silicon carbide market has broad prospects for development. In recent years, it has continuously penetrated into the fields of electric vehicles, photovoltaics, rail transit, and smart grids. It has strong downstream demand and the market scale continues to expand. my country is also laying out the entire industry chain of silicon carbide. The number of related patents has continued to rise this year. The market share of chip manufacturers represented by Tianke Heda is also increasing year by year. The future development space of my country's silicon carbide industry is relatively high. big.
Silicon carbide is the most mature wide-bandgap semiconductor material and a representative material of the third generation of semiconductor materials. Silicon carbide material has many advantages: stable chemical properties, high thermal conductivity, small thermal expansion coefficient, wear resistance and high pressure resistance. Compared with products with the same electrical parameters, products using silicon carbide materials can be reduced by 50% in volume and 80% in energy loss. Due to these characteristics, countries around the world attach great importance to silicon carbide materials, and have invested a lot of energy to promote the development of related industries. The major semiconductor giants in China have also invested heavily in the development of silicon carbide devices. With the maturity of technical processes and the decline of production costs, it is applied to various power devices. In recent years, the penetration rate of silicon carbide power devices in the field of new energy vehicles has continued to increase, and it is the future of SiC and GaN devices in the field of new energy and 5G communications. important raw materials.
According to Yole, the global market space for automotive SiC power devices is expected to reach US$1.93 billion by 2024, corresponding to a compound growth rate of 29% from 2018 to 2024. According to the prospectus of Tianke Heda, the proportion of silicon carbide power devices in photovoltaic inverters will reach 50% in 2025, and the proportion of silicon carbide devices in rail transit will also gradually increase.
Driven by the demand for electric vehicles and photovoltaic inverters, according to Omdia's forecast, the emerging market of silicon carbide and gallium nitride power semiconductors is expected to exceed US$1 billion in 2021; according to IHS Markit data, the market size of silicon carbide power devices in 2018 About US$390 million, benefiting from the growth in demand for new energy vehicles and the development of the photovoltaic industry.
It is expected that the market size of silicon carbide power devices will exceed 10 billion US dollars by 2027, and the growth momentum of the silicon carbide industry is sufficient.
