Stable Niche Electronics Markets for Molybdenum Remain

Published: November 07, 2011    Category: Advanced Materials

The list of things that could go wrong in the emerging markets for molybdenum is sobering and becomes more so when one adds them to the list of products such as vacuum tubes and other products that used to use a lot of molybdenum but are no longer viable markets.  There are, however, a number of markets for molybdenum that fall within the general area of electronics that are stable and where modest growth can be expected.  These include the following areas:

• Semiconductor manufacturing equipment: Arc chambers in ion implanter equipment used to dope semiconductors are often entirely made of molybdenum or the molybdenum alloy TZM.  The demand for molybdenum in this application is generated by the metal's resilience in the highly corrosive environment created by the chemicals used in this process. 

• CAT scanners.  X-ray tube components are an established application for molybdenum and this metal has been used to fabricate both x-ray anode tubes and x-ray detector arrays for CAT scanners.  Molybdenum demand in this sector comes mainly from the tubes, which use pressed, sintered, and forged TZM and the use of molybdenum in this application is based on many of the usual physical and thermal properties of molybdenum. Other than tungsten and molybdenum, there appear to be few other materials that could compete with molybdenum in this application.

• Multilayer ceramic (MLC) package technology. In this technology, the circuitry is deposited on each layer using a process in which molybdenum masks are utilized.  The ink that creates the circuits is a mixture of molybdenum powder and organic binders.   Here, molybdenum is chosen because of its high level of controlled etchability along with a slew of physical properties including the fact that the sintering properties of molybdenum powder match those of the alumina substrates used. 

As the analysis above suggests then, despite the recent waning of many of the markets in which molybdenum has played in the past, there are still a surprisingly large number of niche markets for molybdenum that have an electronic orientation.  Some of the most exciting seem to fall into the general area of green electronics, but these are—for the most part—also highly risky markets. There are also markets where much less risk is involved, but far fewer prospects for strong growth.

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