SK Hynix Achieves Domestic Production of Essential Semiconductor Material 'Neon Gas'

40% Introduction of Fair Process
Expansion to 100% Domestic Neon Process Share by 2024

[Photo by SK Hynix]

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Ye-ju] SK Hynix has succeeded in domestic production of 'Neon (Ne) gas,' an essential raw material for semiconductors.

On the 5th, SK Hynix announced that it has expanded the adoption rate of domestically produced neon gas to 40% after being the first in Korea to localize neon gas production.

Until now, domestic semiconductor companies have relied solely on imports for neon supply. As international tensions in major overseas production regions have increased over the past few years, causing neon prices to show signs of a sharp rise, SK Hynix sought ways to produce neon domestically in advance to mitigate supply risk by collaborating with its partners, semiconductor gas manufacturer TEMC and POSCO.

Extracting neon, which is sparsely present in the air, requires a large-scale ASU plant (Air Separation Unit), resulting in high initial investment costs. However, TEMC and POSCO, who sympathized with SK Hynix’s localization initiative, participated and developed technology to produce neon at low cost by utilizing existing facilities. Through this, domestically produced neon was successfully localized earlier this year by SK Hynix’s evaluation and verification process. The domestic neon is produced by POSCO, processed by TEMC, and supplied primarily to SK Hynix.

Neon is the main component of excimer laser gas used in semiconductor lithography processes. Excimer laser gas generates excimer lasers, which are ultraviolet lasers with very short wavelengths, used to etch fine circuits on wafers. Although neon makes up 95% of the excimer laser gas composition, it is a rare resource that exists only 0.00182% in the air.

Since April this year, SK Hynix has been the first in the domestic industry to introduce domestically produced neon into semiconductor lithography processes, currently replacing about 40% of total neon usage with domestic supply. By 2024, SK Hynix plans to replace all neon with domestically produced products.

Additionally, SK Hynix plans to localize krypton (Kr) and xenon (Xe) gases used in the etching process by June next year to minimize raw material supply risks and continuously secure resources necessary for advanced semiconductor technology development as a global leading technology company.

Yoon Hong-sung, Vice President of FAB Raw Material Purchasing at SK Hynix, said, "This is a case that greatly contributed to stabilizing supply through collaboration with domestic partners despite unstable supply situations caused by uncertain international conditions," adding, "We plan to strengthen the semiconductor raw material supply chain through continuous cooperation."

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