Silicon Manufacturing

McCarter manufactures Single Crystal Silicon (SCSi) components for the semiconductor and defense markets and our success is possible due to our proprietary and patented processes specifically developed for SCSi.

Semiconductor Components		Optics and Optical Substrates
Since 1981, McCarter has accepted challenges from our customers to supply precision replacement parts for their systems.  One material in particular, SCSi, has provided us an excellent opportunity.  McCarter began fabricating silicon components in 1988 when a local semiconductor company began purchasing replacement parts made from silicon.  Our semiconductor customers required parts fabricated from SCSi for their silicon-pulling equipment in order to maintain purity.   Over the next several years, additional semiconductor companies began ordering silicon components for their systems.   More recently, a new market in the semiconductor industry, advanced lithography, has opened and McCarter has worked on some critical silicon components		As a result of our expertise in the semiconductor area, we developed a reputation as a premier manufacturer of SCSi, especially complex shapes with very close tolerances.   In 1993, a Prime Contractor for the US Government contracted McCarter to build a sample SCSi optical device.   The success of that project led to a follow-on program and the expansion of the McCarter business into a new direction.  Offering SCSi as the material of choice for optics and optical substrates has become a key focus for McCarter.  SCSi provides components with high performance and stability, even in harsh environments, that is very affordable. Please note, it is important not to confuse Single Crystal Si with other types of silicon products such as polysilicon, amorphous silicon, silicon foam, and silicon slurry applications.   Even though silicon products that are not single crystal are highly polishable, they show deficiencies in several thermal/structural properties.

SCSi has advantages for optics over traditional mirror substrate materials including beryllium, aluminum, zerodur, silicon carbide, to name a few, primarily due its thermal and dimensional stability.  Additionally, SCSi does not creep or jitter over time or during use, therefore it is more suitable for high performance applications, including laser optics and telescope optics.   To overcome SCSi's brittle nature and low tensile strength, McCarter uses a "design for manufacture" approach by teaming together designers, stress analysts, and manufacturing personnel to provide a design that is thermally and optically stable,  low risk and low cost, with higher predicted reliability and performance.

supplier of specialty mechanical, semiconductor, and optical parts