In early 2024, a chip supply crisis affecting the global automotive industry saw a turning point: China granted Nexperia export exemptions, giving automakers like Volkswagen and Honda a breather. Almost simultaneously, Frankfurt-based filter supplier Trenntech released its new generation of ULPA filters, achieving a filtration efficiency of 99.9995% for 0.12-micron particles, aiming to meet the extreme cleanliness requirements of chip manufacturing below 3 nanometers.
These two seemingly unrelated events reveal a core logic: the autonomy and security of the semiconductor industry are not only related to the macro-level supply chain structure but also depend on the precise control of even a single speck of dust at the micro-level.
Chip Crisis：The “Political Dust” in the Supply Chain Urgently Needs Filtering
Geopolitics, like an amplified “political dust,” fell into the globally sophisticated supply chain, causing the entire system to “crash.” Technological barriers, supply chain disruptions, and geopolitical risks —any disruption in any link can trigger a domino effect.
HEPA/ULPA: The Unsung Heroes of Chip Manufacturing
Amidst macro-level challenges, the microscopic world within semiconductor factories faces an equally perpetual battle—combating dust.
The Deadly Impact of Dust: A particle with a diameter only one-hundredth the thickness of a human hair, landing on a wafer, can cause a short circuit or malfunction of the entire chip.
ULPA’s Protection: In the production of advanced process chips (such as 3nm and 5nm), the tolerance for particles between 0.1 and 0.3 micrometers is zero. ULPA filters, with their 99.999% filtration efficiency, have become the lifeline for maintaining yield rates.
System-Level Purification: The entire chip factory is a massive purification system, forming a vertical laminar flow “air waterfall” through FFUs (Fan Filter Units), combined with internal positive pressure control and localized mini-environments, constructing a multi-layered defense against particulate contamination.
Without ULPA filters, there would be no modern semiconductor industry. It protects not only clean air, but also billions of dollars worth of equipment and hundreds of millions of chips.
The chip crisis has forced countries to re-examine the “redundancy” and “autonomy” design of their semiconductor supply chains. Just as multiple filters are used in air purification systems, establishing a resilient and backup-based supply chain system has become a strategic necessity for national industries.
Redundancy Design
- Filtering Principle: Air purification systems are equipped with pre-filters, medium-efficiency filters, and high-efficiency filters to form backups.
- Implications for the chip supply chain: Establish a diversified supplier system for key chip categories to avoid single-product dependence.
Precise Interception
- Filtering Principle: ULPA filters can precisely capture particles of specific sizes.
- Implications for the chip supply chain: Precisely identify “bottleneck” links in the supply chain (such as EDA software, lithography machines, and key materials) and focus on key areas for development and breakthroughs.
Continuous Purification
Filtering Principle: Filters need to be replaced regularly to maintain effectiveness.
Implications for the chip supply chain: Establish a dynamic supply chain risk assessment and adjustment mechanism to continuously optimize the supply chain structure.
The Nexperia chip incident served as a necessary “primary filtration” for the global supply chain; while the ULPA filters operating silently in cleanrooms are performing “ultra-high-efficiency filtration” that is crucial to the survival of the industry. Together, they remind us that in this era of precision down to the nanometer scale, true safety comes from comprehensive control from the global to the atomic scale.