The photoacid generator (PAG) market continues to expand, with overseas companies dominating the global market

Photoacid generator (PAG), also known as photoacid generator, is a light-sensitive compound. Photoacid generators have the advantages of good chemical stability, good thermal stability, and high quantum yield, and are widely used in semiconductor photoresists, photocurable coatings, heat-sensitive CTP adhesives and other fields.

Based on different molecular charge distributions, photoacid generators can usually be divided into non-ionic and ionic types. Nonionic photoacid generators are made from sulfonate ester compounds or nitrobenzyl esters as raw materials. They have the advantages of good thermal stability and good solubility, but have poor photosensitivity; ionic photoacid generators The agent is composed of triarylsulfonium salt or diaryliodonium salt as raw materials and is the photoacid generator with the widest application range.

Photoacid generators are mainly used to produce semiconductor photoresists, and EUV photoresists, KrF photoresists and ArF photoresists are their end products. KrF photoresist and ArF photoresist are the mainstream products in the semiconductor photoresist market, of which ArF photoresist accounts for nearly 50% of the global semiconductor photoresist market. Driven by downstream demand, the market size of photoacid generators continues to expand. According to the “2023-2027 Photoacid Generator (PAG) Industry In-depth Market Research and Investment Strategy Suggestion Report》shows that the global photoacid generator market size will reach US$210 million in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 19.6%.

Global photoacid generator manufacturers are mainly concentrated in Europe, the United States and Japan, including Japan’s FujiFilm Co., Ltd. (FujiFilm), Japan’s Toyo Chemicals Co., Ltd. (Toyo Chemicals), Japan’s San-Apro Company, Germany’s Heraeus Technology Group, etc. , the above companies account for nearly 80% of the global market. Heraeus focuses on the R&D, production and sales of photoinitiators, photoacid generators, thermal acid generators and other electronic chemicals. The easily soluble i-line photoacid generator produced by the company has extremely high light sensitivity. , has been widely used in display photoresist, semiconductor packaging and other fields.

In recent years, benefiting from the accelerated localization process of my country’s photoresist market, the number of companies that have laid out the R&D and production tracks of photoacid generators has continued to grow. Qianli New Materials, Wanrun Co., Ltd., Weimai Core Materials, etc. are the leading photoacid generator companies in my country. Wanrun Co., Ltd. focuses on the research and development, production and sales of photoresist resins, photoresist monomers, and photoresist finished materials. At present, the company’s independently developed photoacid generator has achieved pilot product supply. In the future, as the technological maturity of local enterprises increases, the development trend of my country’s photoacid generator industry will continue to improve.

Industry analysts said that photoacid generators, as photoinitiators for photoresists, have good chemical stability and thermal stability. With advantages such as good sex, as the development of downstream industries accelerates, its market size will further expand. In terms of market competition, countries such as Europe, the United States, and Japan dominate the global photoacid generator market. In the future, with the improvement of independent research and development capabilities of local enterprises, the output and quality of photoacid generators in my country are expected to reach the world’s leading level.