MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd. (TOKYO:4217)(Head Office: Tokyo; CEO and President: Kazuyuki Tanaka; Capital: 15.5 billion yen, hereinafter referred to as "Hitachi Chemical") announced today that it has filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas against K. C. Tech Co., Ltd (Head Office: Seoul, South Korea, hereinafter referred to as "K. C. Tech") asserting that K. C. Tech infringes Hitachi Chemical's patents relating to cerium oxide slurry for chemical mechanical planarization processes for polishing semiconductor wafers.
Before taking legal action, Hitachi Chemical discussed a possible license with K. C. Tech for K. C. Tech's unauthorized use of Hitachi Chemical's patents. Hitachi Chemical brought the action to protect its intellectual property and to obtain compensation from K. C. Tech for infringement. Hitachi Chemical has accused K. C. Tech's KCS-3100 slurry with infringing United States Patents 7,115,021 and 7,871,308.
CMP Slurry is a type of liquid used for polishing semiconductor wafer chemically and mechanically to get high planarization and cut down process time. Hitachi Chemical has been working on the development of innovative CMP products and processes. With a variety of high quality reliable products and complete technical support, customers around the world employ Hitachi Chemical's CMP Slurry. Hitachi Chemical now holds the largest market share in CMP Slurry for STI (Shallow Trench Isolation)* market. The two patents that Hitachi Chemical has accused K. C. Tech of infringing above are among many that Hitachi Chemical has obtained from its extensive research and development efforts.
Hitachi Chemical will take necessary measures to protect its patents and other intellectual property rights to provide a business advantage.
*STI is one of the isolation methods that electrically isolate semiconductor elements on a silicon wafer from one another. Because STI is suitable for making finer patterns, it has become the major isolation technology for around 180 nanometer processes.