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DuPont opens new Hsinchu lab

David Miller, vice president and general manager at DuPont Electronic Technologies, center, samples a glutinous rice ball yesterday during a ceremony to mark the opening of the Semiconductor Materials Technical Center, DuPont's latest semiconductor facility in Hsinchu Science Park. The Mandarin pronunciation of rice balls (``tang-yuan'') contains a word that is homophonous with the word for contentment (``yuan''). PHOTO: HUNG YU-FANG, TAIPEI TIMES

US-based science company DuPont Co yesterday announced the opening of its latest laboratory in Hsinchu Science Park, in a bid to further tap into the local semiconductor industry.

Costing NT$300 million (US$9.2 million), the Semiconductor Materials Technical Center is DuPont's latest semiconductor facility and joins those it has in the US, Europe and Japan.

"Though manufacturing has gone offshore to China, technology development in Taiwan continues to be accelerating and this will carry on for a long time," said John Odom, president of DuPont EKC Technology -- a DuPont Electronic Technologies business involved in post-etch cleaning and residue-removal solutions for wafers.

Odom made the comments when speaking to reporters after the opening ceremony for the new lab yesterday.

The new facility will play a critical role in future semiconductor technologies and Odom said it was an important time for DuPont to be involved in the technology development in Taiwan.

"We are bullish on the semiconductor industry here and our investment will continue to grow," he added.

"Though manufacturing has gone offshore to China, technology development in Taiwan continues to be accelerating and this will carry on for a long time."

John Odom, president of DuPont EKC Technology

Set up in 1968, DuPont Taiwan Ltd mainly supplies materials for semiconductors and flat-panel displays, as well as agricultural nutrition and titanic-dioxide coating, used in paints.

The company's major chip clients include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) and Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體).

The lab's proximity to major players in the Hsinchu Science Park will enable DuPont to attract new customers, such as ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技), Odom said.

Focusing on materials research for advanced semiconductor processes, the lab will be able to shorten the materials-qualification process by at least a month and improve cycles of materials development, he said.

It has advanced analytical and metrology tools, as well as a state-of-the-art single wafer processing tool -- the first and only such machine to be used by DuPont in its global labs.

Taiwan was chosen over Japan and China as the site for the lab thanks to the strong support from Ministry of Economic Affairs, which initiated the project two years ago, according to David Miller, vice president and general manager at DuPont Electronic Technologies.

The lab is DuPont's third facility in Taiwan, along with a lab in Taoyuan, which researches printed circuit and microcircuit materials, and another in Linkou (林口), Taipei County, which researches flat-panel display technologies and green energy technology for solar panels and fuel cells.

Last year, Asia accounted for two-thirds of DuPont's US$1.4 billion in revenues from its electronic technologies business comprising semiconductor processes, flat-panel displays and semiconductor packaging, Miller said.
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