Asahi Glass Succeeds In Mass Production Of Low-Permittivity Fluorine Insulating Material For High-Frequency Devices

The new product is an organic paint-type insulating  material that can be applied as interlayer dielectrics for wide-ranging high frequency devices,  including GaAs- and GaN-based compound semiconductors, and can be easily painted by spin  coating method. With high thermostability (at up to 350 degrees C), the new material can be  used in high-temperature processes. As a result, it is projected to be extensively adopted to uses  requiring thermostability, for which fluoropolymers could not be used previously, and those  utilizing thermosetting. Use of the material is expected to grow rapidly within our Electronics &  Energy business.



In the development of high-frequency devices that are used in cellular phones and communication  circuits, researchers are striving to realize higher operation frequency and lower power  consumption. However, a technological challenge has appeared: with the operation frequency of  devices growing higher, signal transmission speed drops and electricity consumption increases,  which means that higher speeds have a greater effect on wiring capacitance. To resolve this  problem, a material should be used that has lower permittivity than that of the polyimide-based  insulating materials (the relative permittivity of which stands at 3.2 – 3.5) currently in wide use. 



Under our medium-term management plan “JIKKO-2007,” we aim to build Electronics & Energy  as a third pillar of our businesses. As part of our efforts to achieve the goal, we have successfully  developed a fluorine insulating material that features low-permittivity characteristics and can be  used in high-frequency devices, by making the most of our fluorine chemical technology, which is  one of our core proprietary technologies. This low-permittivity insulating material will make it  possible to largely reduce wiring capacitance, raise the operation frequency of devices and slash  power consumption. With moisture absorption of as low as 0.2% (when temperature is 85  degrees C and humidity is 85%), it can steadily maintain its characteristics. It is also excellent in  flatness characteristics. Thus, the new material can enable multilayer wiring structures for  devices, which will help improve yield rate.