Showa Denko K.K. (SDK; Tokyo, Japan; www.sdk.co.jp) has expanded its capacity to produce high-purity hydrogen bromide (HBr), which is used in the manufacture of semiconductors, and started operation of the expanded HBr plant in this March.
High-purity HBr is a specialty gas mainly used for fine-etching of polysilicon in the manufacturing processes of semiconductors. The demand for high-purity HBr has been increasing due to ongoing expansion of the market for semiconductors caused by acceleration in digitalization, such as the progress in the fields of IoT, big data analysis, and automatic driving.
SDK’s plant to synthesize and purify HBr initially had capacity to produce 600 metric tons per year (m.t./yr). Anticipating further increase in the demand for high-purity HBr, SDK expanded the capacity to 900 m.t./yr, 1.5 times as much as the previous level.