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NY C81309




January 16, 1998

CLA-2-85:RR:NC:1:104 C81309

CATEGORY: CLASSIFICATION

TARIFF NO.: 8514.90.8000

Mr. Erik D. Smithweiss
Grunfeld, Desiderio, Lebowitz & Silverman 245 Park Avenue, 33rd Floor
New York, NY 10167-3397

RE: The tariff classification of "furnace furniture" for semiconductor diffusion furnaces from Japan

Dear Mr. Smithweiss:

In your letter dated November 3, 1997 on behalf of A.G. Electronic Materials and followup letter of January 7, 1998, you requested a tariff classification ruling.

The components, which you refer to as "furnace furniture", are principally used in semiconductor diffusion furnaces. (The term "furnace furniture" is not limited to the semiconductor industry.) They are made of a substrate material consisting of 80% silicon carbide and 20% impregnated silicon (except for dummy wafers which are 100% silicon carbide). Some of the items are coated with silicon carbide. These items are specially designed to withstand the high heat requirements of semiconductor diffusion furnaces (also known as "tube" furnaces) although they can also be used in LPCVD. All are necessary in order to properly perform a semiconductor diffusion process on a batch of semiconductor wafers.

The "furnace furniture" items include:

- "boats" that are slotted to hold wafers. The wafers remain in the boats during the process. After the diffusion or LPCVD, the boat is removed and the processed wafers are placed in another boat for the next process. The now empty boat is refilled with more wafers and reinserted into the furnace for processing.

- "tubes" where the processing takes place. They remain in the furnace. The boats are inserted into the tube.

- "pedestals" and "plates" that sit under a boat. Pedestals are only used in vertical furnaces.

- "cantilevers" used to insert and remove the boats from a horizontal furnace, manually or mechanically. Furnaces that operate the cantilever mechanically have a loading mechanism as a component of the furnace.

- "dummy wafers" placed in a boat to ensure even absorption and distribution of heat. They are generally placed at either end of the boat. All unused slots in the boats are generally filled with dummy wafers.

The applicable subheading for the "furnace furniture" described above will be 8514.90.8000, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for parts of industrial or laboratory electric furnaces and ovens. The rate of duty will be 0.5 percent.

This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 177).

A copy of the ruling or the control number indicated above should be provided with the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If you have any questions regarding the ruling, contact National Import Specialist Robert Losche at 212-466-5670.

Sincerely,

Robert B. Swierupski
Director,

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