US chemical producer Chemours (Wilmington, Delaware; www.chemours.com) is expanding capacity for its perfluoraxyl polymer PFA, popularly known under the “Teflon” brand name used in non-stick cookware coatings. The fluoroproducts and titanium technologies specialist spun off from DuPont in 2015 said the upgrade is in response to growing global demand from the semiconductor industry. The enhanced ability to supply will enable the company to react to trends such as 5G.

Chemours said it has already achieved an incremental capacity increase of 15% for the high-performance polymer through debottlenecking during a plant turnaround. Output capability is set to rise further by the end of 2018, allowing a production rise of altogether 25%. Up to 2021, the Delaware-based company said it will undertake a further upgrade at the West Virginia site, thereby doubling capacity.

Against the backdrop of demand for powerful and efficient integrated circuits with increasingly strict requirements for greater chip densities and higher yields, Chemours said PFA can enable electronic device manufacturers to maximise chip yields and design freedoms while minimsing downtime and process variability.