Kumho Petrochemical Joins SEMATECH’s Resist Centre at College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering

By Will SoutterJun 7 2012

Korea-based manufacturer of photoresist materials, Kumho Petrochemical, has become a member of SEMATECH’s Resist Materials and Development Center (RMDC) located at the University of Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering.

SEMANTECH is a consortium of major semiconductor and materials manufacturers worldwide. Over the last 25 years, the organization has been instrumental in transforming research based innovations into practical solutions to enable manufacture. The work done by SEMATECH at RMDC aims to facilitate resist manufacturers to develop materials for application at 22 nm node. This work is complemented by funded university research programs. The Center also has exposure capabilities for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) materials. The inclusion of the team from Kumho would speed up the development of resists and EUV materials for 22 nm capabilities.

Kumho Petrochemical’s ongoing research since 1989 in the field of photoresist has resulted in the Company owning 65 of the 106 patents applied for advanced photoresist technology in Korea. Chang min Kim, Senior Vice President of the Electronic Chemical Business Unit at Kumho talked about the company’s work in this field over the last decade commencing with the ArF photoresist and subsequent increase in revenue in the fields of FPD chemicals and semiconductor. He stated that Kumho’s collaboration with SEMATECH in its EUV lithography program was in alignment with the company’s objective to be at the top of the electronic material industry. Through the membership, Kumho will have access to RMDC’s metrology tools and micro-exposure tools (METs) apart from SEMATECH’s semiconductor experience and research expertise.