Fujifilm Holdings and Sumitomo Chemical will begin supplying photoresist for next-generation chip manufacturing as early as 2021. This material may help make smartphones and other devices smaller and more energy-efficient The direction of development.
It is reported that the two Japanese companies are developing a special EUV (extreme ultraviolet) photoresist. At present, Japan's JSR and Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. control approximately 90% of the EUV photoresist market worldwide. The addition of new manufacturers is expected to intensify competition in the EUV photoresist market.
Among them, Fujifilm will invest 4.5 billion yen (42.6 million U.S. dollars) in production equipment in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. The plant will start mass production as early as next year. The company said that next-generation photoresist technology will help reduce residues, thereby improving chip yield.
At the same time, Sumitomo Chemical plans to invest all photoresist production capacity from R&D to production for a factory in Osaka by fiscal year 2022.
The report pointed out that the company has a huge share of the traditional photoresist market, so the company has reached a preliminary supply agreement with a large manufacturer.
At present, the most advanced chips on the market use a 5-nanometer process. Manufacturers such as TSMC are committed to commercializing the 3nm process. Solving the problem of EUV photoresist is the most critical way to advance chip manufacturing technology.