Newsroom
Company, Product, Event, and Industry News and Press
AGC to Boost Production Capacity of EUVL Photomask Blanks
― Production of next-generation products to respond to further miniaturization ―
AGC (Headquarters: Tokyo; President: Yoshinori Hirai), a world-leading manufacturer of glass, chemicals and high-tech materials, has announced that it decided to expand the production capacity of EUV lithography photomask blanks (“EUVL mask blanks”) at its 100% subsidiary, AGC Electronics Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Koriyama, Fukushima Pref.; President: Shigeto Hashimoto). Production will begin in January 2024, and through gradual expansion, the AGC Group’s EUVL mask blank production capacity will expand by approximately 30% of the current capacity in 2025.
EUVL mask blanks are used in the EUV lithography process, a manufacturing process for extremely fine semiconductors, and support higher performance semiconductors. Raising semiconductor performance is essential for the advanced information processing required for next-generation high-speed communications and autonomous driving. Demand for EUVL mask blanks is expected to grow significantly in the future as the production of high-performance semiconductors expands. AGC has decided to boost its production capacity to address this increased demand and to produce next-generation products required for further miniaturization of semiconductor manufacturing processes. This production capacity expansion is a project that has been adopted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) under its “Program for Promoting Investment in Japan to Strengthen Supply Chains”*1.
AGC is the world’s only manufacturer of EUVL mask blanks that can handle every aspect from “glass materials” to “coating”. AGC’s EUVL mask blanks have been adopted by several logic and memory semiconductor manufacturers, thanks to the overall reputation of AGC’s high technology and quality, from glass material technology to film deposition technology.
AGC will continue to make aggressive capital investments in the EUVL mask blank business, for which demand is expected to grow significantly, aiming for sales of more than 40 billion yen by 2025 and contributing to the advancement of the semiconductor industry as a materials manufacturer.
*1 : This program aims to strengthen supply chain resilience by supporting businesses in building new plants and introducing new facilities for important products and materials in Japan.
Reference
■About EUVL mask blanks
EUVL mask blanks are a low-thermal expansion glass substrate with various kinds of optical coating films on its surface. An EUV photomask comprises a semiconductor chip circuitry pattern formed onto the surface of an EUVL mask blank, and this circuit is transferred onto a silicon wafer in order to create a semiconductor chip. The requirements for EUVL mask blanks are rising as circuits become ever finer, such as very small defects as close to zero as possible and very high flatness.
■About AGC Electronics
Official name: AGC Electronics Co., Ltd.
Capital: 300 million yen
Representative: Shigeto Hashimoto
Head office location: Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture
Employees: Approx. 800
Primary business: Glass frit and paste, optical pickups and other optoelectronic products, synthetic silica products for semiconductor manufacturing equipment, EUV lithography photomask blanks
Media inquiries
Chikako Ogawa, General Manager, Corporate Communications & Investor Relations Division
AGC Inc.
Contact: Fujiyama
TEL: +81-3-3218-5603