Mitsubishi Chemical Group (MCG Group), has decided to build a new facility to produce Lithomax for ArF (argon fluoride) photoresists and Lithomax for EUV (extreme ultra-violet) photoresists at Mitsubishi Chemical’s Kyushu-Fukuoka Plant in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The objective is to increase the production capacity of its Lithomax photosensitive polymers for photoresists,

Photosensitive polymers are resins that form the main component of the photoresists used in the photolithography process to copy a semiconductor’s circuit pattern onto a wafer. With their low metal and impurity contents, MCG Group’s Lithomax products meet the high quality required for the miniaturization of semiconductor circuits and are used by many photoresist manufacturers. With ArF and EUV photoresists — a still growing market dominated by Japanese manufacturers — holding the key to further miniaturization, the demand for Lithomax as raw materials is expected to steadily grow in future.

In response to this anticipated increase in demand and to strengthen the supply chain, MCG Group has decided to establish a new production facility for Lithomax at its Kyushu-Fukuoka Plant to supplement the current production at the Kanto-Tsurumi Plant in Yokohama, Kanagawa. This will more than double the production capacity of Lithomax for ArF photoresists, and also signal the start of mass production of Lithomax for EUV photoresists.