A-share photoresist sector is expected to usher in a big explosion in performance next year.
What is photoresist?
We will see on Chinese characters such as "peace and happiness" on . When the apple grows, they cover the apple with patterned hollowed out or cut-shaped paper, and then the sun shines on the apple, and finally the surface of the apple will form a mark.
photoresist also plays a similar role. Apply a layer of glue to silicon wafers, glass or metal, and then the light will illuminate it to form a pattern. Making integrated circuits based on this pattern. A brief process can be found in the figure below.
photoresist is not a simple glue. Its production is extremely difficult and has very high technical barriers. The research and development of photoresist requires the arrangement and combination of hundreds or thousands of resins, light display agents and various additives. It requires a lot of R&D investment in technicians, time and funds. And it is difficult for us to infer the formula from the current product in reverse. If the ratio of raw materials varies slightly, the quality of the photoresist produced will be huge.
Moreover, a large number of patents for photoresist are in the hands of leading foreign companies, making it difficult for latecomers to imitate. Later generations must develop independently. To produce photoresist, you also need to purchase lithography machine for debugging. The price of a lithography machine is as low as 100 million yuan, and it is not easy to buy.
Finally, different customers and products have different demands for photoresist. Manufacturers must produce different photoresist according to different needs and conduct a lot of tests. The customer and the old manufacturer have a long-term cooperative relationship. Therefore, it is difficult for new competitors to enter the market of old manufacturers.
Global photoresist industry structure and application scope
90% of the market is monopolized by leading international companies in Japan and the United States. Six leading companies in the world account for nearly 90% of the market. The market share of enterprises in related industries in my country is only single digits. The photoresist industry belongs to the midstream position of the industrial chain.
upstream is basic chemical raw materials, producing chemicals such as resins and photoinitiators; downstream is printed circuit boards, semiconductor chips, , displays, etc. From bracelets around us, mobile phones, TVs, to rockets and spacecraft, all of which are inseparable from the lithography industry.
photoresist can be divided into chip photoresist, flat panel display photoresist (flat panel mainly refers to the screen of TV and mobile phone), and PCB photoresist (PCB refers to circuit board), which are all used for processing fine graphics.
my country's semiconductor industry is facing a choke in the problem
my country's high-end photoresist mainly relies on imports. The production capacity of photoresist enterprises in my country is relatively low.
Japan has imposed sanctions on South Korea's semiconductor industry, mainly restricting semiconductor raw materials represented by photoresist.
Last year, due to earthquake problems, Japan restricted the supply of photoresist to many wafer manufacturers in my country. The high-end photoresist retention period is only more than half a year and cannot be preserved. Therefore, my country's semiconductor manufacturers cannot purchase too much photoresist, so my country's semiconductor manufacturing companies are facing a situation where there may be no glue available at any time.
policy support the photoresist industry
my country's policy strongly supports the industry and has introduced many measures to support relevant domestic enterprises in import substitution. In recent years, a number of capable and advanced photoresist production companies have emerged in my country. After their independent research and development, they have made breakthroughs in photoresist technology. Chinese companies can already produce some high-end photoresist, but the current output is relatively small. Domestic photoresist companies will expand their production capacity next year and in the next few years, and will surely gain more market share. Therefore, the industry is likely to experience a performance explosion tomorrow and the year after tomorrow.
can focus on the future development of A-share listed companies such as the leading photoresist Jingrui Co., Ltd., Tongcheng New Materials , and Yak Technology . The lithographic sector is now at a relatively low historical market, which is suitable for long-term investors to make batch layouts.
Statement: Any views published in this article represent the author’s personal information and do not constitute investment advice. Entering the market based on this is at your own risk.
