REFR's SPD was noted in 1999 Issue of
American Companies in Japan
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CHEMICALS
Late this month, NIPPON FLUOROWARE K.K. is scheduled to begin making fluoroplastic injected-molded wafer-handling carriers for the semiconductor industry at its Yonezawa, Yamagata prefecture factory. NIPPON VALQUA INDUSTRIES, LTD., which owns 10 percent of the company, has been producing this product but, as part of a reorganization of its fluoroplastic business, decided to hand over production to Nippon Fluoroware. Manufacturing equipment is being transferred to Nippon Fluoroware as well as up to 20 employees. Chaska, Minnesota-headquartered ENTEGRIS, INC. is the joint venture's majority (90 percent) owner. This critical materials management company was formed in June through the merger of FLUOROWARE, INC. and a Colorado Springs, Colorado firm in the same business.
To better support users of its semiconductor-grade materials, DOW CHEMICAL CO. tied up with HITACHI CHEMICAL CO., LTD. Under the agreement, the Tokyo company will handle sales, technical support, warehousing and distribution of Dow's SiLK semiconductor dielectric resins, Cyclotene dielectric resins and ancillary chemicals for the semiconductor interlayer dielectric market. People at Dow's subsidiary will be detailed to Hitachi Chemical to share technical support and marketing responsibilities for these products. SiLK resins, introduced in 1996, were developed specifically for use as an interlayer dielectric material in high-performance integrated circuits. They are enjoying growing acceptance in Japan, Dow says, in large part because they help to produce chips with faster processing speeds and reduced "cross talk." SiLK resins are suitable for all existing CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) interconnect technologies using copper/damascene or aluminum/tungsten technologies.
Meanwhile, HITACHI CHEMICAL CO., LTD. became the fourth major company to be licensed by RESEARCH FRONTIERS INC. to make and market on a nonexclusive worldwide basis SPD (suspended particle device) film for electrically and instantaneously controlling the amount of light passing through windows, skylights, sunroofs, eyewear and the like as well as for enabling brighter, easier-to-read flat- panel computer displays. The Woodbury, New York company also gave Hitachi Chemical the right to make and sell to authorized users emulsions used to produce SPD film. Earlier, Research Frontiers made DAINIPPON INK AND CHEMICALS, INC. the first licensed supplier of its emulsions (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 358, July 1999, p. 13).
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