Central Glass has enhanced the quality of its ultra-high-purity hydrogen fluoride gas (purity > 99.999%; “HF gas”), which is sold as an etching gas, to meet the requirements of “cryo-etching technology” (hereinafter “cryo-technology”), an extremely low-temperature etching process recently developed by major semiconductor equipment manufacturers. We have started sales of this improved gas and strengthened our development framework for next-generation etching gases compatible with cryo-technology.

In recent years, cryo-technology has been developed by major semiconductor equipment manufacturers as part of the manufacturing technology for high-capacity semiconductor memory devices that support the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) and other advancements. It has attracted attention as a significant technological innovation. Central Glass has provided HF gas compatible with this technology to major equipment manufacturers for evaluation over an extended period. Currently, adoption in mass production has been decided by several leading semiconductor manufacturers in Japan and overseas that plan to implement cryo-technology. Furthermore, to meet the rapid increase in demand for mass production expected by 2026, we are planning investment to more than double (to several hundred tons) the production capacity of HF gas at our Ube Plant (Ube City, Yamaguchi Prefecture).

Central Glass is one of the few manufacturers with integrated production technology to produce fluorine-containing high-purity gases for semiconductors, including HF gas, from fluorite, the raw material for hydrofluoric acid and has the advantage of avoiding and reducing supply chain risks. For this reason, we have earned high trust and recognition from semiconductor manufacturers.

The newly adopted HF gas is one of the gases which we have sold so far for etching. However, we utilized ultra-high-purity processing technology for gaseous HF—a challenging refinement process—to improve its quality and meet the needs of equipment and device manufacturers, achieving compatibility with cryo-technology. At the present time it is highly regarded for effectively realizing the superior etching performance (precision and speed) of cryo-technology.

Additionally, while carbon and fluorine-containing CF-based gases have commonly been used for etching, their high global warming potential (GWP) has recently become an environmental concern. HF gas, with a GWP of zero and PFAS-free composition, significantly reduces environmental impact.

Cryo-technology is expected to be applicable not only to memory devices but to all semiconductors in the future. To accelerate the development of next-generation gases for cryo-technology, we began joint development with a major semiconductor equipment manufacturer last year. Additionally, we have introduced evaluation equipment for cryo-etching at our Applied Chemical Research Center (Ube City, Yamaguchi Prefecture), establishing an in-house development environment capable of conducting rapid evaluations of etching under extreme low temperatures.

Moving forward, Central Glass will continue to leverage its strengths in stable fluorination technology to provide specialty gases for semiconductors, and advance new developments and proposals aligned with technological trends and customer needs, in order to contribute to innovation in the semiconductor industry and the realization of a sustainable society.

Contact Information

Central Glass Co., Ltd. 
Electronic Materials Sales Department 
Phone: +81-3-3259-7226