Sand: Essential Material in Industry and Technology

High-purity quartz from Spruce Pine, USA, is crucial for making semiconductor wafers and solar panels, with no alternative source globally.

### Sand: The Foundation of Modern Technology and International Trade
* 🏝 Sand, the most common substance on Earth, is formed by finely crushed rocks with mineral particles having diameters ranging from **0.0625 mm to 2 mm**.
* 🔍 Defining sand solely by size is challenging, so it is better to differentiate its main components such as **silicon dioxide, quartz, or silica**.
* 🪴 Sand composition varies by region, with deserts having a lot of **round sand due to wind erosion**, which is **unsuitable for making concrete**.
* 🏰 The high-purity quartz vessel required for melting polysilicon, a key material for semiconductors, can only be made from quartz in **Spruce Pine, North Carolina, USA**.
* 🌍 Sand is used in various critical technologies such as making glass for lenses and telescopes, producing semiconductors, and creating **optical fibers for the internet**.
* 🌊 Since sand is a **finite resource** formed through geological changes over a long time, it is crucial to consider **environmental issues related to sand mining**.

In a place with such high purity of silicon, like the Spruce Pine in North Carolina, USA, there is no other place outside this region. So, if, for example, we were to attack there, the global solar cell and semiconductor industries would come to a halt. Therefore, it is an area where strong security is maintained to the extent of evoking military zones. Yes, let's start. Today, we will talk about something kids love, sand. Finally, since we are targeting a younger audience, we will talk about sand play stories that kids love. Sand, the most common substance on Earth, the origin of civilization, and possibly leading to the core of international power stories, is very interesting. I have summarized some contents from the book The World of Materials and The World Made by Sand. Sand is formed by finely crushed rocks.

It means mineral particles are defined as particles with diameters ranging from 0.0625 mm to 2 mm. This indicates very small particles that are classified by size. It is a bit ambiguous what kind of substance this is. Even mud, silt, and similar substances are defined by size, so defining what sand is can be challenging. For instance, sugar or salt of a certain size could technically be defined as sand based on size alone. However, it is not appropriate to do so. When discussing sand, it is better to differentiate its main components such as silicon dioxide, quartz, or silica. In the case of glass, it can be referred to as melted sand because when sand is melted, it becomes glass. Yes, that's right. This is actually something we don't think about much in our daily lives. Therefore, in the case of sand, when the purity of silica is high, a white substance can also be produced.

Beaches can be different because the sand on the beach can now be mixed with shells and other things like that, so the composition of the sand can vary slightly depending on the region. Deserts have a lot of sand, right? In deserts, there is a lot of sand, but here, due to the wind, the rocks are eroded and when you look closely, they are round. This round sand on the beach, on the other hand, has various shapes, some are a bit sharp, and even though they are clean, they are a bit sharp. Therefore, the round sand cannot be used when making concrete. Concrete is made by putting stones, gravel, sand, and cement together, and when you put this in, the cement acts as a kind of adhesive, sticking it together. But if the sand is round, it doesn't stick well. So, if you want to build a building in the desert, you have to buy sand, a lot of sand.

We need to import sand from other countries to build. It's more suitable for concrete. When we import sand, there is a criminal organization called the Sand Mafia in India. This criminal organization illegally mines and sells over 500 billion tons of sand and gravel worldwide each year. The people mining the sand from the river are not part of the mafia; they are just workers. When sand accumulates over a long period, it becomes a valuable resource. However, when the mining is prohibited, illegal activities by criminal groups arise. Sand is a precious resource, and if it is excessively mined, it can lead to problems. Therefore, it has been prohibited. Sometimes, police officers are killed by these individuals if they interfere.

Events are happening, and even government officials are being terrorized to the point where it seems impossible to stop the activities of these mafia members. It's because of sand. The central government is considering recognizing mining rights instead and transitioning to legal mining to address this issue. So, sand is a more significant item in trade than we think. Concrete sand, well, we can consider it. Today, I want to talk about concrete sand. I didn't start the discussion, but I want to talk about various aspects of sand. When we make concrete, we can use it in construction, and when we melt sand, it becomes glass. With glass, we can make lenses. By making lenses, we can create astronomical telescopes for space science. Most of physics is based on these lenses, and by using these lenses to see small things, then...

It's biology. If there were no sand, no glass, and if the lens had not been developed, humanity would not be able to handle the field of biology. Now, when it comes to mirrors, even in making semiconductors, ASML's equipment, the most important equipment for making semiconductors, uses sand. Also, sand is used to make semiconductors and glass. Because glass fibers are made from sand, we can use the internet. This is a world created by sand. Earlier, we mentioned that melting sand makes glass. However, in normal circumstances, you need a high temperature of 1400 degrees to melt glass. But in normal situations, you can't reach a temperature of 1400 degrees. So, how did people discover glass when they couldn't generate that high temperature, like in the Stone Age or even before that? It was either through lightning strikes or perhaps by pure coincidence, a meteorite collision.

You could come out, but from there, by chance, glass was made, and arrowheads were made from processed glass. Oh, if you put borax at 14 degrees here, the melting point decreases. So, we're just thinking about it. So, you stay in an area where there is suitable sand, then you do camping there, and make a campfire. Then, it turned out that there was sand mixed with soda accidentally. But when we took the fire off, suddenly something started flowing. Yeah, that's how it is. It looked really transparent and beautiful. Yes, glass must have been discovered like this. There is a theory that says that. Yes, there is such a theory. So, in areas where these things are mixed, it seems that glass is discovered. For example, glass artifacts from Egypt are also very famous.

There were some handicrafts and if you look at these things, it wasn't accurate to say that the ingredient was sand. Sand composition varies by region, so in certain regions, there may be sand with high purity of silica. In those places, technologies for making more transparent glass develop. For example, in Murano Island in Venice, Italy, there is a region called Murano. This area is very famous for glassmaking. The glass handicrafts made there are very beautiful, making transparent and thin glass. The techniques developed there for making such glass are crucial. The glassmakers in Murano used to face the death penalty if they revealed their skills outside the region. This shows how important glassmaking skills were. So, we have something we call crystal here, right?

Crystal refers to glass with high purity, which includes processed glass containing lead oxide. So when sand is melted, it becomes glass. Depending on what is added, the color and strength can vary. It's somewhat similar to developing a new drug or something like that. But the thing about sand is that it's a mix of various types of stones that have been cut. So just melting sand doesn't seem like it would become glass; you have to melt it properly. Most of the difference lies in how much lead oxide is mixed in. Then, how did the glassmaking technique that only Murano craftsmen had spread throughout Europe? When something like a craze occurs, it's usually in England. That was the case back then. Yes, England brought Murano craftsmen and spread the beautiful crystal-making technique.

I stole it. Then, how is glass made? Let's watch a video made by a French company called Saint-Gobain and talk about it. This is sand. Sand, but it looks pretty, right? That's because it's high-purity sand. When this is heated to a high temperature, it melts like water. Then, it is solidified again, beautifully shaped, using the technique to make glass like this. Now, when flat glass is made, how transparent can it be made, how beautifully can it be processed? Depending on the needs, glass with high strength is needed. So, by mixing some materials, high-strength glass is made. We also make things like pots, tempered pots, and tempered glass using this method. That's how glass is made. Then, tempered glass...

In some cases, there are things that decorate the exterior of buildings beautifully at a high level. But as I mentioned earlier, they were made with glass, like lenses. Yes, when we think about these lenses, if we look at the nature of glass, when light passes through it, it bends slightly, and there are things like that. Yes, and by utilizing this nature, by making it a bit thicker, or concave, or convex, then objects appear somewhat different. Using this characteristic, lenses were made, and by making these lenses, we now wear glasses. So, glasses, you might think it's just for vision, but if we look back to the time when there were no glasses and when there were, if we compare those times, people with poor eyesight read a lot of books or things like that. If their eyesight is poor, then next, their eyes...

It's not that you can't study because you're getting worse. First of all, scientists have extended the age at which they can conduct research by about 10 to 20 years. It's almost like being an athlete, right? As science and technology advance, people whose eyesight has weakened with age can now continue their research through glasses, allowing for longer periods of research and further academic development. This was advocated by Galileo, you know. So, what did Galileo end up creating later on? He developed a refracting telescope. By developing a refracting telescope, utilizing the properties of glass, he realized that you could see the moon. When you look at it with the naked eye, you can't see it well. But by adjusting the glass like this, he ended up creating this refracting telescope.

Then, there, then, Isaac Newton, who discovered the universal gravitation that we all know well, proved this and then, if that's the case, then really, in that big world, the universe, some physical shapes of the world, they conduct experiments. When conducting these experiments, what did Isaac Newton create? He created the world's first reflecting telescope. So, back then, there were quite a few scientists, physicists, and people who made what we call glasses. Ah, we thought people these days make glasses, but in the past, those who made glasses were scientists, and there were quite a few scientists. And the person who first discovered the small world, the microscopic world, was Robert Hooke. Through a microscope, he saw the cork that seals our wine, the cork. When he looked at the cork tissue, he found that it was made up of small chambers shaped like beehives.

We named it a cell. Now we call it a cell. It was the first time we discovered cells. So, with microscopes, we could discover microorganisms and even treat diseases caused by bacteria or parasites. This science was made possible because of microscopes. This is the science made by sand. Then there are interesting events here. There was something very important for national security. For example, during World War I, binoculars were used for military purposes. Because when cannons couldn't shoot far, they needed telescopes to aim. But during World War I, the country that made telescopes was Germany. Germany didn't give binoculars, but England needed them to shoot cannons.

But if you don't have binoculars, you can't aim, right? How can you shoot something that you can't even see with your naked eye? That's why all the citizens had glasses at home, even opera glasses. Now, when we watch opera, even those glasses for watching from a distance have all been taken by the citizens. But without binoculars, we can't go to war. So we dispatched agents to go to Switzerland and buy German binoculars. We had a project like that, and surprisingly, Germany sold them to us. Oh really? Why did they sell them? Germany needed rubber. Oh, so the Allied forces blockaded the seas, and they ran out of rubber. Tanks couldn't move without tires, right? So, we exchanged binoculars for rubber. Even during the war, things like this happened. Yes, even during the war, free trade is essential, necessary trade. So, at that time, binoculars.

Where was the company you founded? Carl Zeiss is famous, right? Yes, Carl Zeiss is still a very famous optical company. They used to make binoculars here. So if I explain one episode related to Carl Zeiss here, when Germany was divided like this, there was East Germany and West Germany, Carl Zeiss was originally in East Germany. After we went through World War II, we realized that the optical technology of Carl Zeiss was very much needed. So, when the United States won the war, pushed out the Nazis, the first thing they did was to fly over here and snatch the researchers from Carl Zeiss and move them to West Germany. They were brought here and told to work here. But in reality, East Germany was under the control of the Soviet Union. So later on, Carl Zeiss in West Germany, Carl Zeiss.

East Germany was divided into two, and the company became two. Yes, and then what did the Soviet Union do? They took the researchers from Karl Zeiss here and brought them to the Soviet Union. Because the technology was also very necessary in the Soviet Union. So, there were Karl Zeiss in East Germany, Karl Zeiss in West Germany, and also Karl Zeiss in Russia. It was a very important technology. So, where can we hear the name Karl Zeiss these days? Right away, it's ASML. Yes, ASML. It's usually called EUV equipment, and it is essential equipment when making semiconductors with a process of 7 nanometers or less. So, briefly explaining about this equipment, in order to draw semiconductors, you have to draw the patterns very small. So, in order to draw small, the brush needs to be thin. So, it needs to be thinner and thinner. This is also too thick, so eventually, you need to draw the picture with light.

It's drawing with light. Since light doesn't have a physical form, you can draw it thinner. So, how do you draw a picture with light? After making the light thin, when it hits a substance that changes its properties when exposed to light, which is called a photosensitive material, then you remove the light. Then, you create something like a pie or something like that. By gradually making the wavelength of light smaller, you search for thin light, not thick light, and really gather the light in short increments. When you shoot it precisely, it uses the light with the shortest wavelength. It's a device that uses light reflection like this to gradually gather the power of light and shoot it. It's about gathering light. How well the light is absorbed matters because even passing air can absorb light. The light is absorbed by the air. Oh, really.

So the region itself is in a vacuum state. Normally when we have a mirror, if we stack multiple layers of mirrors and reflect like this, at some point, the light weakens. Mirrors reflect light so we can see our faces, right? But to make that reflection work well, we make the mirror really flat. If we were to expand that size to about the size of the U.S., the flatness would be like 5th order. That's how it would be. The only place where we can make such mirrors is Carl Zeiss. Oh, then the equipment with Carl Zeiss's mirror is ASML. ASML exists because of Carl Zeiss. Also, because of sand. There are lenses, sand, and something that can't be done. Which country really wants to do this? China. Why can't China make these semiconductor equipment if they don't import these mirrors?

That's why. Oh, then, another thing, where else can we use it? In our society, optical fiber. Knowing optical fiber is nothing special. It's made of glass, and by using the reflection angle here, it can transmit light to the opposite side. But, if the reflection is done well, light can travel at the speed of light. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, and back then, they used copper wires to transfer data on the telephone. However, copper has resistance, so the signal weakens as the distance increases. So, in the United States, Dr. Charles Kao, yes, Dr. Charles Kao, a well-known figure who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2009, discovered that light can be sent far away using glass fibers he made. With that, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics.

But if the glass is not transparent, if it is not clean, then the light will be absorbed, right? So, which company developed the technology to create truly transparent glass? It's our well-known company in the U.S., Corning. Yes, Corning. This company discovered the technology to produce transparent glass, and Dr. Gaobak developed optical fibers that can send light far away. By combining these two, what do we get? Right, optical cables. So, what connects the U.S., Asia, and Europe? It's the underwater cables that contain optical fibers, enabling us to use the internet. Ah, that's how we were able to do Google searches, right? Yes. And the YouTube channel that you all love to watch, the data you are currently viewing is being transmitted through optical fibers. Yes, even if you like me a lot

If you want to see me in person, you have to come to Yeouido directly, right? But you don't have to come because of optical fibers. In the case of semiconductors, it starts from sand. The basic material of semiconductors is now polysilicon. Polysilicon, silicon, silicon, but it's silicon, and the purity of silicon is high. After making a place with high-purity silicon, you make wafers by writing on the place, and this is for making solar cells, solar panels. For making solar panels, polysilicon must be 99.9999, so there should be eight nines. The purity of polysilicon must be this high. Then, for making semiconductors, you use polysilicon with 99.999, just multiply nine by nine. So, you use polysilicon with nine nines under nine in one billion atoms, with about one impurity.

It works, but why do we use high-purity silicon? If you look at it, in a semiconductor circuit board, the current goes back and forth inside the transistor. If impurities keep getting in here, the current is disrupted, causing defects. So, how do we make this? This is made by a company called Linton Crystal Technology. Here, there is something called a seed. Here, poly silicon goes in like this, and there is melted silicon here. Then, when we roll it with a stick like when making cotton candy, rolling and rolling, then drying it out, it becomes cotton candy, right? Similarly, by rolling high-purity melted sand a lot with this technique, like this, when we roll and roll and roll it up, it goes up all the way. Oh, when it goes up like this, this is it.

So, as I mentioned earlier, here, with a very thin knife, we cut it like this, like this, like this, like this, and make silicon wafers. Ultimately, if we don't have sand, we can't use semiconductors. But one of the important points here is that this polysilicon has very high purity. However, it needs to be melted at a very high temperature. So, we need a container to melt it. A container, we need a container. The material inside here is of very high purity, and because of that, and because we need to melt it at a very high temperature, there is a possibility that this container may affect the material here. So, making this container is also very important. What about the container? It's not made of iron, right? No, it's not. It's not made of iron. Yes, iron, things like that.

If you heat it, the molecules can go inside, so the purity may decrease. So, since the purity can decrease, the purity of this vessel must be extremely high. So, what is this vessel made of? It is made of quartz that comes from sand, high-purity quartz. Then, silicon is melted into it. The place with such high-purity quartz is only Spruce Pine in North Carolina, USA. It's the only place in the world. In the 1970s, there was a company called Unimin established here. Unimin, which is now a branch in Belgium, processes the quartz further to produce a material called iota 8, which is a 99.992% pure quartz. So, this vessel is uniquely made only from the quartz that comes out from here.

For example, if we were to conduct terrorism, then the global solar panel semiconductor industry would come to a complete halt. If we don't sell this, we can't do it at all. It's the only one in the world. So, strong security is being maintained to the extent of declaring it a military zone. Therefore, these things, even making sand is a miraculous thing that some books talk about. They discuss how much our daily used sand is the basis for many things, and how we are mining so much sand for these things. But as I explained earlier, sand is created through geological changes over a very long time, so once we use it all up, it cannot be regenerated. Therefore, we need to think about environmental issues related to this sand. It's necessary to write books on these topics.

Before discussing those topics, when I look at a certain technology, we often talk about not only advanced technologies but also the technology related to the essence of advanced technologies, which is highly sophisticated and has a high entry barrier, and I realized that it has a significant impact on our lives. So, I didn't intend to give such a great meaning, but I found it interesting while looking at sand, so I prepared to tell you guys. Oh, I'm going to the beach this summer, but I can't stand sand. It was the best.

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The Significance of Sand: From Playgrounds to International Trade

The high purity of silicon in Spruce Pine, North Carolina makes it a crucial area for the global solar cell and semiconductor industries.

Sand, a common substance, is not only important for kids' play, but also plays a vital role in international trade as a key component of concrete and glass.

The excessive mining of sand, driven by its value in construction, has led to the rise of a criminal organization known as the Sand Mafia in India, causing significant social and political challenges.

Sand is essential for making glass and silicon, crucial for lenses, semiconductors, and the internet.

The discovery of glass may have been accidental, possibly through lightning strikes or meteorite collisions, leading to the development of glassmaking techniques in specific regions.

The skills of glassmakers in Murano were highly valued, leading to the spread of their techniques across Europe, particularly in England.

The Impact of Lenses and Telescopes on Science and War

The use of glass lenses led to the creation of glasses, extending the ability of scientists to conduct research and allowing for further academic development.

Scientists like Galileo and Isaac Newton played a significant role in the development of telescopes, which had a profound impact on our understanding of the universe.

During World War I, the need for binoculars for military purposes led to a unique trade agreement between Germany and England, demonstrating the importance of optical instruments even in wartime.

The Legacy of Carl Zeiss and its Impact on ASML

Carl Zeiss, a famous optical company, originated in East Germany and later divided into companies in East and West Germany, as well as Russia, with its technology being crucial during and after World War II.

ASML, known for its EUV equipment essential in semiconductor production, relies on Carl Zeiss's mirrors for the precise gathering and shooting of light.

The unique flatness of these mirrors, which are crucial for the equipment, is a specialty of Carl Zeiss.

The reliance on Carl Zeiss's technology and mirrors has led to China's need to import semiconductor equipment, as they are unable to replicate these components.

The Role of Optical Fiber in Modern Technology

Optical fiber transmits light through glass, allowing for high-speed data transfer, as discovered by Nobel Prize winner Dr.

Corning, a US company, developed the technology to produce transparent glass, enabling the creation of optical cables for long-distance light transmission.

These optical cables are crucial for underwater connections that link the US, Asia, and Europe, facilitating internet usage and data transmission, including popular activities like Google searches and YouTube viewing.

The Significance of High-Purity Quartz in Semiconductor Production

High-purity quartz from Spruce Pine, North Carolina, is crucial for making containers to melt silicon at a high temperature for semiconductor production.

992% purity material called iota 8 by Unimin, is the only one of its kind in the world, leading to tight security measures at the production site.

The depletion of sand, the source of high-purity quartz, poses environmental concerns and highlights the need for sustainable use of this crucial resource for semiconductor manufacturing.