Project Background
With the rapid development of the semiconductor industry, water quality requirements in production processes have become increasingly stringent. Ultrapure water is a critical utility in semiconductor manufacturing, and its quality directly affects product consistency, yield, and reliability.
This project involved Shenzhen Chenda Semiconductor and the application of an ultrapure water treatment system supplied by Meigu Environmental Protection.
Project Requirements
The semiconductor manufacturer required ultrapure water with the following specifications:
- Treatment Capacity: 15 tons/hour
- Metal Ion Content: Below 10 ppt
- TOC: Below 5 ppb
- Particle Size: Less than 0.05 μm
These requirements demanded a highly efficient, stable, and reliable ultrapure water treatment system.
Ultrapure Water Treatment Solution
The customized solution combines double-pass reverse osmosis, EDI, polishing resin, and terminal ultrafiltration.
1. Raw Water Pretreatment
The pretreatment system includes a raw water tank, feed pump, disinfectant dosing system, quartz sand filter, activated carbon filter, heat exchanger, and antiscalant dosing system.
This stage removes suspended solids, organic matter, microorganisms, and other impurities from the feed water.
2. Double-Pass Reverse Osmosis System
Pretreated water enters the double-pass RO system, where cartridge filters, high-pressure pumps, and RO membranes remove most dissolved salts, colloids, macromolecular compounds, and microorganisms.
This process also reduces the treatment load on downstream purification equipment.
3. EDI System
The RO permeate then enters the electrodeionization (EDI) system, which further removes ionic contaminants without conventional chemical regeneration.
The EDI process increases water resistivity from approximately 0.05–1.0 MΩ·cm to 5–16 MΩ·cm.
4. Polishing Resin
Nuclear-grade polishing resin is used to remove remaining trace ions and weak electrolytes, increasing water resistivity to above 18 MΩ·cm.
5. Terminal Ultrafiltration
As the final purification barrier, terminal ultrafiltration removes fine particles, colloids, bacteria, pyrogens, and residual organic contaminants, helping prevent secondary contamination.
Project Results
The completed 15 T/H semiconductor ultrapure water system provides:
- Stable ultrapure water production
- Online water quality monitoring
- Automatic alarms for abnormal water quality
- Low-noise operation
- Dust-resistant design
- Reduced operation and maintenance requirements
The system helped improve production stability and maintain the stringent water quality required for semiconductor manufacturing.
Conclusion
This project demonstrates the effectiveness of combining double-pass RO, EDI, polishing resin, and ultrafiltration for semiconductor ultrapure water production.
The customized system provides a reliable solution for applications requiring extremely low levels of ions, TOC, particles, and other contaminants.