Large-Size and Ultrahigh Purity Tungsten with Enhanced Physical Properties via Chemical Vapor Deposition

Conventional powder metallurgy techniques fail to meet the demands for ultrahigh purity tungsten (UHPW) and scalable component sizes required by the semiconductor industry. In this study, ultrahigh purity (99.999998 wt %) large-size tungsten parts, with an adjustable thickness and a diameter of 350 mm, were prepared via a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method using ultrahigh purity (99.9999 wt %) tungsten hexafluoride (WF6) as the precursor. The microstructure and physical properties of the resulting CVD-UHPW were evaluated and compared with those of powder metallurgy tungsten (PM-W). The results indicate that CVD-UHPW displays a columnar grain microstructure with a lower dislocation density and internal strain, whereas PM-W shows an equiaxed grain microstructure. CVD-UHPW has a density of 19.17 g/cm3, closely matching the theoretical density of tungsten (19.35 g/cm3) and significantly higher than PM-W’s density of 18.79 g/cm3. The specific heat capacities of CVD-UHPW, measured from 298 to 1473 K, range from 0.113 to 0.146 J/g·K, similar to PM-W’s range of 0.120 to 0.151 J/g·K. CVD-UHPW shows improved electrical and thermal conductivities compared to PM-W, with values ranging from 1.68 × 106 to 1.78 × 107 S/m and 105.7 to 196.4 W/(m·K) from 298 to 1473 K. This study highlights the potential of the CVD method for the large-scale production of ultrahigh purity tungsten parts, emphasizing its significant applicability across various industries.