The company has commissioned sapphire crystal production at its campus near Chennai, a move aimed at strengthening India’s semiconductor materials ecosystem and reducing dependence on imports.
Polymatech Electronics Ltd. has started sapphire crystal production at its Oragadam campus near Chennai, marking a significant step in expanding India’s semiconductor materials manufacturing capabilities.
According to The Times of India, it has commissioned a sapphire ingot crystal-growth puller, an industrial furnace that produces large single-crystal sapphire blocks used in semiconductor manufacturing. The facility is designed to produce a 100mm diameter sapphire ingot in five working days, with each ingot yielding about 330mm of usable material after cutting and grinding.
Once qualified, the sapphire ingots will undergo slicing, lapping and polishing to produce epi-ready wafers. At full capacity, a single puller is expected to manufacture around 18,000 epi-ready sapphire wafers annually, supporting the production of several billion semiconductor dies for micro-scale devices.
The company said the equipment is currently undergoing process qualification and operational validation, during which parameters such as power quality, ultra-pure water supply, process gases and thermal conditions are being tested to ensure consistent crystal growth.
The Oragadam facility will serve as the foundation for the next phase of expansion, with additional sapphire ingot pullers planned at the company’s 10.13-hectare special economic zone (SEZ) in Nava Raipur, Chhattisgarh. Polymatech said the expansion will complement its existing sapphire operations in France and strengthen its global manufacturing footprint across India, Singapore, France, Estonia and the United States.
