TOKYO – Showa Denko  has decided to increase its capacity to produce high-purity boron trichloride (BCl3), which is a kind of specialty gas used in the manufacture of electronic materials, to 1.5 times of the previous level.

High-purity BCl3 is a specialty gas mainly used for fine-etching of aluminum circuits in the manufacturing process of LCD panels and silicon semiconductors. In recent years, electronic material manufacturers have been making capital investment in the fields of organic light emitting diode (OLED) display panels and low temperature poly-silicon (LTPS) LCD panels, both of which are equipped with aluminum circuits.

Therefore, the demand for high-purity BCl3 gas is expected to be stable in the future. Thus SDK decided to increase the productive capacity of its high-purity BCl3 manufacturing facility in Kawasaki Plant. SDK will start operation of the expanded BCl3 plant in this March.

SDK’s electronic-material-processing high-purity gas business has a history of nearly 40 years, and is acclaimed by customers due to its high-level technology to purify, analyze and control quality of specialty gases, which we cultivated over many years.

SDK is the one and only company in the world that manufactures and sells various types of high-purity gases including fluoride, chloride, bromide, and ammoniate gases. We offer high-purity gases suitable for each process of electronic material manufacturing.

Under its ongoing medium-term consolidated business plan “Project 2020+,” SDK classifies its business in electronic-material-processing high-purity gases into the category of “Growth-accelerating” business. SDK will continue aiming to further strengthen and expand its specialty gas business, responding rapidly to the expansion of the global electronic materials market.

Showa Denko  is a major manufacturer and marketer of chemical products serving a wide range of fields ranging from heavy industry to the electronic and computer industries.

SDK makes petrochemicals (ethylene, propylene), aluminum products (ingots, rods), electronic equipment (hard disks for computers) and inorganic materials (ceramics, carbons).

The company has overseas operations and a joint venture with Netherlands-based Montell and Nippon Petrochemicals to make and market polypropylenes.

In March 2001, SDK merged with Showa Denko Aluminum Corporation to strengthen the high-value-added fabricated aluminum products operations, and is today developing next-generation optical communications-use wafers. For more information, please visit www.sdk.co.jp/english/.