Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co., Ltd. (TOK) provides chemical products, such as photoresist, and equipment needed to manufacture semiconductors and flat panel displays (FPD).

MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) have already been put to practical use in such items as inkjet printer nozzles, the magnetic heads of hard disk drives and sensors including acceleration sensors; progress has also been made in their application to the fields of automobile, electronic parts and medical equipment.
Technology in the fields of semiconductor manufacturing is applied to many aspects of MEMS, however the materials and equipment for MEMS manufacturing often require different needs and processes from those used in the manufacture of semiconductors.

In response to our customers' processes, uses and film thickness, TOK has developed a wide range of photoresists, such as positive and negative chemically - amplified type photoresists. We have also developed photoresist coating machines capable of highly uniform photoresist coating, which reaches several hundred m. We take pride in providing the sophisticated manufacturing solutions, both in terms of materials and equipment.

Currently we have been able to put 3D hollow structure to practical use, where photoresist itself is a structure with permanent photoresist; furthermore, we are addressing the possibility of 3D hollow structure when stacking several layers of photoresist. We are also developing the manufacture of ultra miniature components and 3D structure components using plating methods with stacking several layers of photoresist; we aim to provide a variety of innovative solutions to the challenges and problems found in MEMS manufacturing.

• The permanent photoresist for MEMS
• Glossary