[Special Stock] Youngchang Chemical Benefits from Global Tallest NAND Flash Competition... Entry into SOC, Photoresist, and ArF Rinse Markets

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Yeongchang Chemical, a newcomer to the KOSDAQ market, is rebounding. According to the semiconductor industry, the recent intensification of stacking competition in the global NAND market appears to be influencing the stock price.

As of 9:34 AM on the 5th, Yeongchang Chemical is trading at 15,350 KRW, up 7.72% from the previous day.

Yeongchang Chemical, a manufacturer of ultra-precision industrial chemical materials for semiconductors and displays, was listed on the 14th of last month at an IPO price of 18,600 KRW. Since then, the stock price had been declining. On this day, it dropped to 14,050 KRW in early trading before showing signs of a rebound.

A major domestic semiconductor company recently developed the world's highest-layer 4D 238-layer NAND flash memory semiconductor. Mass production is planned to begin next year.

Yeongchang Chemical developed and supplies the ‘Spin-On Carbon Mask (SOC)’, a material used for manufacturing NAND flash memory with over 200 layers, last year. It is expected that the supply volume of SOC will increase starting next year when mass production of 238-layer NAND flash begins.

Along with Yeongchang Chemical, domestic company D and overseas companies supply SOC, but Yeongchang Chemical is known to supply the largest volume. The SOC for NAND flash memory developed by Yeongchang Chemical has secured competitive advantages over domestic and international competitors in ▲planarization performance improvement ▲EBR (Edge Bead Remover) enhancement ▲fume reduction ▲bake process time reduction. This has improved process margins and yield. The SOC for DRAM memory manufacturing has been mass-produced and supplied since 2013, occupying more than 30% of the SOC process for that customer.

Spin-On Carbon Mask is a new material that replaces the amorphous carbon layer (ACL) previously used to improve etching ratio during semiconductor pattern etching. The unit price per gallon is a high-end product similar in price to ArF photoresist. It offers high usability and reduces investment costs for ACL deposition equipment, so most processes that used ACL are switching to SOC.

As the number of NAND flash memory layers increases, the number of SOC usage processes also increases. With the recent rapid development to over 200 layers, demand for Yeongchang Chemical’s SOC is expected to surge.

A Yeongchang Chemical representative emphasized, "We lead 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. Based on our competitiveness, we are experiencing rapid growth with annual sales increases of over 30% in this market."

In the field of materials for NAND flash memory with over 200 layers, Yeongchang Chemical is expected to see significant sales growth as new entries such as photoresist, negative tone developer (NTD), ArF rinse, and slurry have already been confirmed or are planned in addition to SOC.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.