Advertisement

If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)

ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.

ENJOY UNLIMITED ACCES TO C&EN

Business

Firms Fight Over CMP Patents

by Marc S. Reisch
November 21, 2011 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 89, Issue 47

Just as one lawsuit over chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) has been decided, a new one is getting under way. CMP is the use of abrasive slurries to polish, or planarize, the surface of silicon wafers used in the manufacture of electronic components. In the first case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a lower court’s August 2010 judgment that neither the DuPont Air Products NanoMaterials joint venture nor Cabot Microelectronics violated the other’s patents on alumina- and silica-based CMP slurries. In a separate case, Hitachi Chemical just filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against K. C. Tech of South Korea for violating Hitachi’s U.S. patents on cerium oxide-based CMP slurries. Before taking legal action, Hitachi says, it first talked with K. C. Tech about a license deal to end the Korean firm’s unauthorized use of Hitachi patents. The court battles are about dominant CMP slurry producers Cabot Micro and Hitachi vying to preserve their market shares, explains Mike Corbett, managing partner of Linx Consulting, a specialist in electronic chemicals and materials.

Article:

This article has been sent to the following recipient:

0 /1 FREE ARTICLES LEFT THIS MONTH Remaining
Chemistry matters. Join us to get the news you need.