Upstream Raw Materials and Downstream Applications of Quartz Products

In the quartz glass industry chain, quartz sand and silicon compounds (such as SiCl4) are positioned at the upstream level. Quartz sand serves as a crucial raw material for the quartz glass material and product industry, with its price directly impacting production costs. Based on quality and the needs of the downstream market, raw materials are broadly categorized into ordinary quartz sand and high-purity quartz sand for the electronic information sector.

The raw materials undergo a series of processes including crushing, washing, drying, hydrolysis, and synthesis to form quartz glass. The less transparent, lower-quality quartz glass is often used to make quartz crucibles. Transparent quartz glass and higher-quality synthetic quartz glass are further processed into quartz fibers, tubes, rods, and ingots.

The downstream applications of quartz glass primarily concentrate in the semiconductor, photovoltaic, fiber optic, electro-optical source, and aerospace industries. Quartz glass is typically processed into forms like ingots, cylinders, rods, and tubes before undergoing further processing. For instance, quartz ingots and cylinders are utilized as materials for quartz flanges, diffusion tubes, and bell jars in semiconductor processing techniques such as diffusion, oxidation, deposition, and etching; synthetic quartz ingots also serve as the main substrate material for photomask; more than 95% of the preform rods used in fiber optics are made of high-purity quartz glass, which also consumes a significant amount of quartz glass material during production.

In the semiconductor industry, high-purity, pure, and high-temperature resistant quartz glass materials and products are indispensable accessories. Currently, semiconductor quartz is primarily divided into semiconductor devices, semiconductor quartz substrates, and semiconductor quartz materials, with market shares of 41%, 31%, and 28%, respectively. In 2018, the demand for semiconductor quartz in most countries was valued at 20.6 billion yuan.

For businesses and procurement officers seeking quality and competitively priced quartz products, understanding the complex supply chain and technological advancements in the quartz glass industry is crucial.

For more information on how our quartz solutions can enhance your production capabilities, please contact us at contact@globalquartztube.com.