Dow Launches Next-Generation CMP Polishing Pad Platform

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dow Electronic Materials, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW), today introduced its new IKONIC™ polishing pad platform, bringing to market Dow’s most advanced polishing pads for chemical mechanical planarization (CMP). The IKONIC™ platform offers a series of new pads designed to deliver the highest performance levels for the broadest range of CMP applications at or below the 28 nm technology node.

“Dow’s understanding of polymer science and its capability to develop CMP solutions help enable our customers to produce next-generation devices. Our customers’ requirements for lower defectivity and improved cost of ownership will continue to drive the focus of our research programs moving forward.”

Dow’s IKONIC™ pad platform is a family of products that deliver multiple benefits in copper, tungsten, ILD, STI and other polishing applications. Its formulations combine a unique set of chemistries with a range of hardness and porosity, creating pads that are easy to condition.

IKONIC™ pads are designed to improve defectivity performance for higher wafer yields, with the potential for extended pad lifetime leading to greater tool uptime. These new CMP pads meet a range of removal rate targets for throughput gains, and selectivity requirements to address process needs. Select products from the IKONIC™ family can also improve planarization efficiency and wafer topography. These benefits make the IKONIC™ polishing pad platform ideal for a wide range of advanced polishing applications.

“The ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to CMP polishing is no longer viable; a tunable platform of products is required to meet our customers’ ever evolving and more technically challenging process needs,” said Colin Cameron, CMP global marketing director for Dow Electronic Materials. “Dow’s understanding of polymer science and its capability to develop CMP solutions help enable our customers to produce next-generation devices. Our customers’ requirements for lower defectivity and improved cost of ownership will continue to drive the focus of our research programs moving forward.”

Dow Electronic Materials’ IKONIC™ pad platform sets a new benchmark for CMP, drawing on the company’s expertise in materials science, polishing, manufacturing and high volume supply. These capabilities, combined with collaborative customer relationships, make Dow the global leader in CMP pads.

IKONIC™ polishing pads are currently available for sampling, and commercialization is targeted for early 2013. To learn more about Dow’s new CMP pad technology, visit Dow Electronic Materials in booth 626 at SEMICON Taiwan in the TWTC Nangang Exhibition Hall, September 5 to 7, 2012.

About Dow

Dow (NYSE: DOW) combines the power of science and technology to passionately innovate what is essential to human progress. The Company connects chemistry and innovation with the principles of sustainability to help address many of the world's most challenging problems such as the need for clean water, renewable energy generation and conservation, and increasing agricultural productivity. Dow's diversified industry-leading portfolio of specialty chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and plastics businesses delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions to customers in approximately 160 countries and in high growth sectors such as electronics, water, energy, coatings and agriculture. In 2011, Dow had annual sales of $60 billion and employed approximately 52,000 people worldwide. The Company's more than 5,000 products are manufactured at 197 sites in 36 countries across the globe. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. More information about Dow can be found at www.dow.com.

About Dow Electronic Materials

Dow Electronic Materials, a global supplier of materials and technologies to the electronics industry, brings innovative leadership to the semiconductor, interconnect, finishing, photovoltaic, display, LED and optics markets. From advanced technology centers worldwide, teams of talented Dow research scientists and application experts work closely with customers, providing solutions, products and technical service necessary for next-generation electronics. These partnerships energize Dow's power to invent. Its key end-use applications include a broad range of consumer electronics from personal computers, to television monitors, cellular phones, global positioning systems, automobile safety systems, and avionics. More information about Dow Electronic Materials can be found at http://www.dowelectronicmaterials.com.