Usha India Limited, part of the Group Usha conglomerate, has established what it describes as a stand alone production facility for silicon epitaxy wafers, the basic raw material for transistor chips and semiconductor devices.
This is the first facility of its kind in South Asia, according to Arun Kanchan, head of the company’s electronic division. He said the plant, which is due to come onstream next month, will have a production capacity of 30,000 eight-inch wafers a month which is three times the current demand in India for silicon epitaxy wafers.
The plant, which has been partially funded by the government Technology Development Board will produce raw materials crucial in the manufacture of high power transistors, diode chips, integrated circuits and metal oxide semiconductor devices, Kanchan said. The complex technology and high capital costs involved have until now stopped Indian firms from building this type of facility, he claimed.
To provide raw materials for the plant Usha India is also building a polysilicon production facility, with a 100 ton annual capacity as part of its plans to make the company a fully- integrated global semiconductor manufacturer. The plant, which will make the basic raw materials required to produce both silicon wafers and solar cells, will also be a first for South Asia said Kanchan. This production facility for such commercially and strategically important raw material, which until now had to be imported, will bring a technology that has been non-existent to the country, he said.
Usha India is the country’s largest exporter of semiconductor components and it is also one of the world’s largest manufacturers of TQ-92 transistors, with an annual capacity of 720 million.
