Youngchang Chemical Expects SOC Sales Growth with Major Clients' New Product Development

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] Youngchang Chemical, a specialist in ultra-precision industrial chemical materials for semiconductors and displays, announced on the 5th that it is expected to benefit from supply and sales expansion due to new product development by major customers.

A leading domestic semiconductor company recently succeeded in developing the world's highest 4D 238-layer NAND flash memory semiconductor and announced plans to start mass production next year. Youngchang Chemical completed the development of 'Spin-On Carbon Mask (SOC),' a material for manufacturing NAND flash memory with over 200 layers, last year and is supplying it to the company. With the start of mass production of 238-layer NAND flash in 2023, Youngchang Chemical is expected to significantly expand its SOC supply volume.

Youngchang Chemical, along with domestic company D and overseas firms, supplies SOC to this company, with Youngchang Chemical reportedly supplying the largest volume. The NAND flash memory SOC developed by Youngchang Chemical has secured a competitive edge over domestic and international competitors in ▲planarization performance improvement ▲EBR (Edge Bead Remover) enhancement ▲fume reduction ▲bake process time reduction, improving process margin and yield. The SOC for DRAM memory manufacturing has been supplied in mass production since 2013, occupying more than 30% of the SOC process for the customer.

Spin-On Carbon Mask is a new material that replaces the amorphous carbon layer (ACL) previously used to improve etch ratio during semiconductor pattern etching. Its price per gallon is a high-end product comparable to the expensive ArF photoresist. Due to its high ease of use and the ability to reduce investment costs in ACL deposition equipment, most processes that used ACL are switching to SOC.

Furthermore, as the number of NAND flash memory layers increases, the number of SOC usage processes also increases proportionally. With the recent rapid advancement to over 200 layers, demand for Youngchang Chemical’s SOC is expected to surge.

A Youngchang Chemical representative stated, “Our company leads the technology and market in the spin-on hard mask field by achieving higher quality compared to domestic and international competitors and succeeding in developing experimental products such as metal hard masks,” emphasizing, “Based on this competitiveness, we are experiencing rapid growth with annual sales increases of over 30% in this market.”

Meanwhile, in the field of materials for NAND flash memory with over 200 layers, Youngchang Chemical has already confirmed or is scheduled to newly enter markets for photoresist, negative tone developer (NTD), ArF rinse, slurry, and others, so significant sales growth is expected.

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