Sumika Buys Manufacturing Equipment

PHOENIX, Jan. 11 -- Sumika Electronic Materials, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd., announced it has purchased epiwafer manufacturing equipment from a major semiconductor manufacturer.

Sumika said the transaction will enable it to add to its HBT (heterojunction bipolar transistor) and diode product lines and will provide a second site to produce pHEMTs (pseudomorphic high electron-mobility transistors) to complement Sumitomo Chemical's Japanese facility, Sumika Epi-Solution Co. Ltd., which makes pHEMT switches. Sumika said it will also enable it to introduce new pHEMT technologies.

The equipment, including two MOCVD (metal organic chemical vapor deposition) systems, used to grow GaAs-based epiwafers, will be transferred to Sumika's Phoenix facility and will be in full production by the first quarter of 2005.

III-V compound semiconductors like GaAs are used in a variety of wireless and high-speed applications, including power amplifiers and switches for cellular phones and other mobile communications markets.

In April 2003, Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd. purchased the assets of ATMI's GaAs epiwafer business and formed two new companies in Japan and the US. In Japan, Sumika Epi-Solution, Co. Ltd. manufactures epiwafers at Sumitomo Chemical's Chiba facility. In the US, Sumika Electronic Materials Inc. produces epiwafers and markets Sumitomo Chemical's photoresists, wet chemicals, cleaners, sputtering targets and super engineering polymers.

For more information, visit: www.sumikamaterials.com