● High value-added components that increase the degree of integration by flattening the wafer   surface – SKC solmics accelerating localization in the market dominated by global powerhouses

● SKC solmics has invested KRW 70 billion to construct two factories in Anseong and Cheonan since 2015 to secure an annual production capacity of 180,000 sheets   

SKC solmics, a subsidiary of SKC (President Lee Wan-jae), specializing in semiconductor materials and components, has started the commercial operation of its Cheonan factory to roll out CMP (chemical mechanical polishing) pads, a key component in the semiconductor planarization process. With an annual production capacity of 180,000 sheets, including the quantity from the Anseong factory, SKC solmics has further increased its localization rate of CMP pads.

SKC solmics has begun the commercial operation of its second CMP pad factory in Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do. The factory which began construction in 2020 with a budget of KRW 47 billion can produce 120,000 CMP pads a year. Previously, SKC's Semiconductor Materials Business Group started investing in the CMP pad business in 2015 with KRW 20 billion and built a 60,000-sheet CMP pad factory in the Yongwol Industrial Complex, Anseong. In order to respond to ever-growing demand, the company started building its second CMP pad factory and has now tripled its total production capacity in the area.

The CMP pad made of polyurethane is a high value-added product that mechanically and chemically polishes the surface of semiconductor wafers that have undergone exposure, etching, and deposition along with CMP slurry. It is key to increasing the degree of integration of semiconductors. Its consumption is on the rise following the miniaturization of semiconductors and the increase in the number of processes. According to an analysis by a semiconductor market research institute, the global market for CMP pads will reach KRW 1.58 trillion in 2023.

Two US companies have occupied more than 90% of the CMP pad market worldwide. It is difficult for others to enter the market due to high technological and patent barriers. To start off, they must secure highly sophisticated technologies required to control material properties and process wafer contact surfaces. Since entering the business in 2015, SKC's Semiconductor Materials Business Group has secured business competitiveness, as shown in its application for more than 200 patents at home and abroad, as a result of its own earnest R&D efforts on top of its robust technological expertise and knowhow in the polyurethane business.

SKC solmics is ​​the only CMP pad manufacturer to have a recipe for CMP pad stock solution. Most notably, it has the ability to freely control the size and uniformity of pores in CMP pads as small as micrometers, meaning that the company can quickly develop and supply CMP pads with the properties and contact surfaces desired by its customers.

As such, SKC solmics is contributing to the localization of CMP pad materials, for which Korea depended mostly on imports: In 2016, it developed a pad for tungsten process and replaced imported products. It became the first company in Korea to localize a pad for copper processing. Recently, it has succeeded in localizing a pad for the oxide process, which is extremely challenging technologically, for the first time in the country. The company’s efforts are leading to an increase in the localization rate of CMP pads for local customers.

“The Cheonan Factory will produce CMP pads and blank masks, for which Korea has long been dependent on imports, and serve as the country’s hub for the localization of semiconductor materials,” said an official from SKC solmics. “We will successfully complete the ongoing global semiconductor manufacturer certification assessment process to advance into the global market and contribute to strengthening the worldwide semiconductor materials supply chain.”

[photo de_ script_ion]

[CMP pad manufacturing processes at the Cheonan Factory of SKC solmics deploying robots to improve product quality significantly.]