May 26, 2005
Indium price soars as demand for displays continues to grow

By Dr. Thomas Jansseune General Manager Umicore Materials Taiwan

Demand for InP-based devices may just be crawling out of an extended slump, but its main raw material, indium, is highly sought after - it is currently trading at its highest price for the last 60 years. Thomas Jansseune looks at the market forces that could be problematic for InP manufacturers.

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July 1, 2003
Umicore at the SEMICON Shows in Asia and Europe

By Dr. Dominik Ringer Product Manager Semiconductor Materials

The market segment "Materials for Semiconductor Applications" started this year’s show cycle in February with the Semicon Korea show in Seoul. Visitors had the chance to meet with our new representatives in Korea. At the beginning of 2004, Umicore Marketing Services (UMS) Korea took over the sales activities for sputter and evaporation materials for semiconductor applications from Unaxis Korea. The phase change target for PRAM (Phase Change RAM) presented at the booth attracted many visitors and led to interesting conversations. In March, UMS Shanghai and Hong Kong presented our products at the Semicon China in Shanghai. In this lively environment it was no surprise to have a large number of interested people visiting our booth. The intense contact with visitors re-enforced our experience of last year’s show that China is a fast-moving place for semiconductors. Of special interest at the show was definitely the ITO target, and Dr. Thomas Jansseune, Product Manager Displays, was very busy answering questions. We could also present our new European sales team: Umicore Thin Film Products is now serving our customers in Europe directly from Balzers.

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October 7, 2003
The indium market and compound semiconductors

High purity indium is one of the key raw materials for compound semiconductors, being the essential ingredient for InP (indium phosphide). Indium of the necessary purity for semiconductors is produced by Umicore Indium Products, a dedicated indium plant of the Business Unit Thin Film Products. In this article we take a look on the global market for this product, as well as on the forces that are shaping it. This article was written by Dr. Thomas Jansseune, product manager of Umicore Thin Film Products, and appeared in Compound Semiconductor in September 2003.

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August 13, 2003
Umicore demonstrates 7N indium

High purity indium is used as a raw material for compound semiconductors. First it is used in e.g. Czochralski furnaces to grow InP, InSb or InAs crystals. These crystals are then sliced and polished to make wafers. Secondly it is used in MBE (molecular beam epitaxy) for epitaxial growth of compound semiconductor layers on such wafers.

For such compound semiconductors purity of the material plays a vital role as critical impurities can play an important role as dopants on the ppm level. Therefore, the raw materials for such applications typically are 6N (six nines or 99.9999%) pure. This means that the total content of impurities is less than 1 ppm (parts per million) of impurities. For epitaxial growth and R&D, higher purities are often required, e.g. 6N5 and 6N8.

Umicore produces high purity indium of these qualities in its Providence plant, Umicore Indium Products (UIP). This site is completely dedicated to the manufacturing of indium products and is equipped with a clean room for the production of semiconductor grade indium. To illustrate its manufacturing capabilities, UIP recently demonstrated that it can purify indium to a 7N quality, containing less than 100 ppb (parts per billion) of impurities. The purity was confirmed by the National Research Council of Canada, where a GDMS analysis on this material was performed. This is a record for UIP and the purest grade of indium available on earth. Apart from being a major technical achievement, it also exemplifies Umicore’s desire to be at the forefront of technical development and its commitment to the electronics industry.

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July 1, 2003
Our New Web Site Launch

Introducing our new web look. Along with our new name, we of course wanted a new "Umicore Thin Film Products" Web Site to go along.

The new web site is more than just a way to find out about our company. It's also a convenient yet powerful way to get information about our products, locations, as well as a useful reference tool.