The picture shows workers in chip packaging, and palladium can be used in some semiconductor packaging links Recently, the price of gold continued to rise, and the price of palladium, which is more expensive than gold, is "soaring". According to the latest data, the price of spot palladium once rose by more than 5%, up to US $3173 / ounce, an increase of more than 65% during the year. There is a certain demand for palladium in semiconductor production. Palladium can be used in semiconductor components such as sensors and is also one of the important raw materials in semiconductor packaging. However, the reporter learned in the interview that Russia's Palladium production accounts for about 40% of the global total, and palladium exports account for 35%. Due to the relatively small amount of palladium used in semiconductor products, the rise of palladium price has limited disturbance to the global semiconductor supply chain. However, semiconductor manufacturers should still seek a diversified raw material supply system. Palladium is used in a small amount in semiconductors Palladium is one of the rarest precious metals in the world. It has excellent qualities such as colorfastness, high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance and good ductility. However, palladium is very rare. Its reserves are only 1 / 6 of that of platinum, and its total annual output is less than 1 / 8 of that of gold. Some people joked that palladium is a "precious" metal worth more than gold. More importantly, only a few countries such as Russia and South Africa produce palladium in the world, of which Russia is the world's largest palladium producer. It is understood that Russia's Palladium production accounts for about 40% of the global total, and palladium exports account for 35%. Palladium has a certain "sense of existence" in the semiconductor industry and is applied in electronic components, integrated circuits and other fields. Teng ran, head of CCID Consulting integrated circuit center, told China Electronics News that palladium can be used to produce multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC). MLCC can be applied to mobile phones, laptops, fax machines, and electrical components of automobiles and household electronic products. In other microelectronics fields, palladium is mainly used in the electroplating of connectors and lead frames of electronic circuits and hybrid integrated circuits. Then focus on the field of components and electronic packaging in the semiconductor industry. He Jinjiang, deputy general manager of Youyan Yijin new materials Co., Ltd., told China Electronics News that palladium and silver palladium alloys are important materials for preparing MLCC capacitors and resonators; In the packaging link of semiconductor back channel, palladium alloy and palladium plated wire are mainly used for lead bonding of electronic packaging to replace gold wire; In addition, palladium can be used as palladium alloy solder for precise connection of components. Based on the characteristics of palladium, new materials and applications are also being developed. "Palladium is used in the semiconductor field, but the actual demand is less." He Jinjiang told China Electronics News that the application of palladium in automobile exhaust catalysis exceeds 80%, accounting for the largest share of its market application. Especially after the implementation of the national six emission standard, the demand for palladium is growing. The rise of palladium price has little impact on semiconductors Affected by the current market supply-demand relationship, palladium prices have continued to rise recently, with an obvious increase. Recent data show that the price of spot palladium once rose by more than 5%, up to US $3173 / ounce, an increase of more than 65% during the year. What conduction effect will palladium price rise bring to the semiconductor industry? In an interview with China Electronics News, Mo Dakang, an expert in the semiconductor industry, said that Russia is not a big country in semiconductor materials, and the price rise has little impact on the semiconductor industry as a whole. Palladium has a low application proportion in semiconductor products and will not have a large-scale impact on semiconductor production at present, especially for enterprises with high raw material inventory level. Teng ran told China Electronics News that at this stage, the rise in palladium prices will increase the cost of the semiconductor industry. However, considering that the demand for Palladium for a single semiconductor product is relatively small, from a medium-term and short-term perspective, the rise in palladium price has little impact on enterprises with high raw material inventory level. According to the reporter of China Electronics News, due to the high price of palladium, some domestic companies have little demand for palladium in the semiconductor field. It is for this reason that these companies have not yet felt the conduction effect of palladium price rise on downstream semiconductor products. In the field of automobile exhaust catalysis, the main application scenario of palladium, automobile manufacturers are likely to accelerate the shift to cheaper platinum to seek replacement, which also paves the way for the decline of palladium price next year. Suki Cooper, an analyst at Standard Chartered Bank, predicts that the average price of palladium will be $2763 in 2022 and will fall to $2275 next year. Diversified supply system is becoming more and more important Although the supply of palladium has a limited impact on the semiconductor industry, it has indeed sounded an alarm for many enterprises in the semiconductor supply chain and brought enlightenment to various manufacturers. The supply chain of semiconductor industry is very long. Bu Rixin, general manager of chuangdao investment consulting, told China Electronics News that the supply of semiconductor upstream raw materials such as electronic special gas, targets and special materials often has the characteristics of many kinds, high quality requirements and relatively small market scale, so it will show the characteristics of centralized suppliers and regional concentration. In such a market state, the anti risk performance of the industry is poor, and it is easy to be disturbed by peripheral factors. Therefore, from the perspective of the long-term and healthy development of the semiconductor industry, the industry needs to establish a responsive backup mechanism, improve the industrial chain and improve the ability to resist fluctuations and risks. For palladium, a special material with very uneven global reserves and concentrated production in a few countries, bu Rixin believes that it is necessary for relevant manufacturers to reserve raw materials in advance to deal with the unstable factors of industrial development. It is necessary for semiconductor enterprises to find alternative suppliers of raw materials all over the world. Teng ran told China Electronics News that based on the irreplaceable nature of materials and the non sensitivity to the price fluctuation of raw materials, some key core processes will continue to use metal palladium. In non core critical processes, engineers will look for alternative metals to reduce their dependence on palladium. The following examples may prove that building a diversified supply chain system and finding alternative suppliers of core materials is an important task for enterprises to ensure stable supply. Intel has a diversified global supply chain, which can minimize the risk of potential supply interruption; Benefiting from diversified material sources, Samsung's production is proceeding as usual; Sk Hynix has obtained a large number of semiconductor raw materials; Wafer foundry business grid core can flexibly find resources. In the future, major enterprises will pay more attention to the integrity and stability of the supply chain of the semiconductor industry chain. Teng ran said that the lack of a stable supply chain system will lead to the uncontrollable state of technology R & D and large-scale mass production of semiconductor enterprises. In addition, the semiconductor industry is known as "a generation of materials, a generation of technology and a generation of industry". The development of semiconductor technology in the future requires the joint efforts of process manufacturing and material enterprises. Material technology breakthrough is very important for the development of domestic semiconductor manufacturers, and is expected to bring new possibilities to the development of domestic semiconductor manufacturing process. Teng said that it is not only the ability of semiconductor industry to link up with the downstream industry, but also the ability of domestic material enterprises to improve their own supply chain. Semiconductor manufacturing enterprises need to give domestic supporting enterprises more opportunities for application, trial and error and promotion, so that domestic semiconductor material enterprises can grow rapidly. (Xinhua News Agency)