2022 Semiconductor Photoresists: Growth Continues Strong Through 2026

TECHCET—the electronic materials advisory firm providing business and technology information— announced an updated outlook for the semiconductor-related Photoresist market. Growth is expected as revenues are predicted to increase by 7.5% in 2022 to reach almost US$2.3 billion.

The 2021 to 2026 CAGR for total resists is forecasted to be 5.9%, with the  fastest growing products being EUV and KrF type resist materials, as stated in TECHCET’s newly released

2022 CMR™ on Litho Materials (includes information on photoresists and ancillaries).

“The Lithography materials market is healthy and growing and is expected to stay on an upwards trajectory given the advancement in device technology and increased layer counts,” stated Dan Tracy, Ph.D., Techcet’s Sr. Director of Marketing Research. In particular, EUV photoresists have firmly ‘arrived’ and are now officially being used for high volume chip manufacturing by multiple chip makers. EUV photoresist will grow rapidly as new logic nodes continue to be introduced; advanced DRAM enters production with EUV, especially as more ASML scanners are placed into production.

Photoresists used for “old tech” (I-line, G-line, and KrF) are expected to surge due to the near-term chip supply constraints. KrF resists continue to find growth, especially as 3DNAND device production and layer count grows. ArF and ArFi both use similar polymer/solvent platforms that utilize an aqueous developer (0.263N tetramethyl Ammonium hydroxide – TMAH), and their demand is driven by multi-patterning applications.

In South Korea, Taiwan, and China, onshoring of photoresist production is a recurring theme, and domestic manufacturing of these materials is growing. Near-term issues impacting the photoresist market, as with other materials, are inflation, supply chain disruptions, and geopolitical events. All of these are contributing to price increases and product availability for the current year, and are expected to continue doing so into 2023.

It is also important to note that new suppliers surfacing in places like South Korea and China may lead to dynamic adjustments within the photoresist market landscape. These new suppliers are benefitting from government and chipmaker support within their respective countries.

​For more details on the Electronics Litho Materials market information including suppliers Avantor, Dongjin, Fujifilm, JSR, Kempur, SEH, DuPont, and others go to: Litho Materials CMR-NEW | TECHCET