The demand for electronic-grade ammonia continues to grow, and domestic self-sufficiency capabilities continue to improve

Ammonia is an inorganic compound and an aqueous solution of ammonia. Part of the solution is ammonia monohydrate (NH3·H2O), which is the main component of ammonia. Ammonia is weakly alkaline, appears as a colorless and transparent liquid, has a pungent odor, is unstable in nature, easily volatilizes ammonia gas, is easily miscible with water and ethanol, and is corrosive. Electronic-grade ammonia is high-purity ammonia, mainly used in the cleaning and etching fields of electronic products.

Electronic-grade ammonia is a wet electronic chemical with high purity. It is used in semiconductor, panel, photovoltaic cell and other industries. It is an important material required for wafer cleaning and etching processes. Compared with electronic-grade hydrogen peroxide, hydrofluoric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid and other wet electronic chemicals, the demand for electronic-grade ammonia is relatively small, but it is indispensable. Wafer manufacturing specifications are high, and tiny impurities can cause failure. Therefore, compared with ordinary ammonia, electronic-grade ammonia has higher technical barriers, and quality requirements continue to increase as the functional integration of electronic products increases.

In overseas markets, the main manufacturers of electronic-grade ammonia are BASF, Mitsubishi Chemical, Sumitomo Chemical, etc. In the Chinese market, the main manufacturers of electronic-grade ammonia are Lianshi (Shanghai) Chemical Materials Co., Ltd. and Jiangyin Jianghua Microelectronics Materials Co., Ltd. Co., Ltd., Jingrui Electronic Materials Co., Ltd., Jiangsu Danol Technology Co., Ltd., etc. In the global market, BASF and Mitsubishi Chemical are the largest manufacturers of electronic-grade ammonia, with a combined market share of about 65%.

According to the “In-depth Market Research and Investment Strategy Suggestions Report on the Electronic Grade Ammonia Industry 2021-2025” released by the Industrial Research Center, in 2020 In 2019, the global wet electronic chemicals market size was approximately US$5.1 billion, of which electronic-grade ammonia demand accounted for approximately 5%. my country’s semiconductor, panel, and photovoltaic cell industries have developed rapidly and have now become a major producer. The demand for wet electronic chemicals has continued to grow accordingly, and the market size has reached 10.2 billion yuan in 2020. As an important cleaning and etching material, the demand for electronic-grade ammonia is increasing and the market prospect is good.

Due to high technical barriers, in the early days, my country’s demand for electronic-grade ammonia mainly relied on imports. Driven by the development of downstream industries, the production strength of my country’s ammonia industry continued to improve, electronic-grade ammonia gradually realized independent production, and output gradually expanded. In 2020, my country’s electronic-grade ammonia production capacity is still expanding. The electronic-grade ammonia production line built by Haining Yingdesai Electronics Co., Ltd. was officially put into operation at the end of the year, with a production capacity of 20,000 tons/year. In the future, my country’s dependence on imports of electronic-grade ammonia will continue to decline.

Industry analysts said that electronic-grade ammonia is a wet electronic chemical that can be widely used in semiconductors, panels, photovoltaic cells, etc. In the industry, although its demand ratio is smaller compared with other wet electronic chemicals such as electronic-grade hydrogen peroxide, it is indispensable and the market prospect is still broad. After continuous development, our country has gradually developed the production capacity of electronic-grade ammonia, but supply has always been less than demand, and part of the demand still relies on imports. At present, my country’s electronic-grade ammonia production capacity is still expanding, and the market’s self-sufficiency capacity will continue to improve in the future.