Innovation

Material Topic: Innovation

Innovation One-on-One continues to be a hallmark of how JSR does business and is key to how JSR collaborates with customers to achieve their technical requirements. Innovation is not only customer facing, but also emphasized internally. As one of JSR’s Five Foundations, Innovation Culture has been the lifeblood of the organization’s problem-solving methodology. Innovation is becoming increasingly important as semiconductor material technology increases in complexity. Going forward, JSR plans to continue to use the Innovation One-on-One approach to remain a frontrunner.

Significant Advanced Cleans Growth

In the last five years, advanced cleans presented an exciting innovation opportunity for JSR. Existing JSR customers sought higher quality and better supported cleaning agent products than were currently available. The industry standard at that time, were not addressing the growing cleaning requirements of next generation semiconductor fabrication. Using the Innovation One-on-One approach, a new product line of advanced cleans was brought to the market. Advanced cleans has quickly grown from a prototype to many millions of gallons sold and is in the process of becoming one of JSR’s fastest growing opportunities.

Extreme Ultraviolet Going Mainstream

Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography has been under development for decades and is now becoming mainstream. Some of the largest fabs in the world are currently making portions of their products using the EUV manufacturing process. This transition is expected to accelerate in the coming years. Using a wavelength of light that is only 13.5nm in size to transfer the mask pattern to the wafer requires utilizing materials in a very different way when compared to the photoresists typically used in fabs. The ultra-high vacuum pressure required for EUV further challenges the materials used during manufacturing. JSR is a leader in this space based on its internally developed materials, existing customer relationships, and acquisition of EUV pioneer Inpria.

Extreme Ultraviolet Company Acquisition

In November 2021, JSR acquired Oregon-based Inpria. Inpria offers non-chemically amplified EUV photoresists capable of very small pitches and feature sizes. As a member of the JSR family, Inpria’s advanced technology will enable high resolution and high etch selectivity that was not previously possible with standard photoresists. The technologies that Inpria brings to JSR are not only class leading, but also include extensive intellectual property defense. The acquisition of Inpria was a major step for JSR as it further cements its position in the changing semiconductor landscape. The Inpria acquisition shows JSR’s commitment to Continuous Improvement and progressive business practices.