Photomask is an essential semiconductor manufacturing component that contains the detailed blue print of circuit or device design. Using the photomask, specific images of detailed device design are transferred onto the surface of semiconductor Silicon wafers by means of photolithography.
The principle of photomask is similar to photography in many ways. Photomask is used just like negatives of photography films that capture specific images which could be reproduced later.
In photography, multiple copies of photos could be reproduced using the original images captured on the negative photo films. Likewise, photomask is used just like the negatives of photographic films to produce duplicate images or patterns on to the Silicon wafers. As in the case with photography, a single photomask plate can be used to produce identical images on, thousands of wafers. As the quality of finished photographs would be determined by the quality and the properties of the original films, it is also true that the quality of the photomask will also determine the ultimate quality of semiconductor chips and LCD panels.

In other words, photomask plays the role of photographic negative film in the manufacturing of semiconductor chips or LCD panels. Quartz plates are commonly used as the choice of substrates on which detailed images or patterns are formed. The patterns or images are, then, transferred onto the wafer surfaces by shining lights through the quartz plates, just like the negative films that are used to project certain images on to the photographic papers. Since the precision and accuracy of the pattern geometry on the photomask affects device quality and the degree of device integration on the wafers, photomask is considered as a key integral part of overall semiconductor technologies.

PKL has successfully developed and commercialized manufacturing process for 0.13um-grade photomask which are used for 4 Giga-DRAM products. We also developed Large Area Masks (LAM) which are used in the manufacturing of TFT-LCD panels that are the main display components of notebook computers or PDAs. Counting both IC and LCD photomasks, PKL has acquired approximately 65% of Korean merchant photomask market. Many would agree that semiconductor, information & telecommunication technologies, and display industries will continue to provide the growth engine for Korean economy in the near future. Knowing photomask plays a critical role in the above industries, then, it is not so difficult to see why photomask technology is an integral part of our daily life such as Korea, a high technology, Internet-driven society. It is hard to imagine a world without Internet and cell phone nowadays. And so is a world without photomask since photomask is the essential part of the new technologies which we became so utterly dependent on. PKL makes it possible for us to continue to enjoy the comfort and convenience of the digital world as we know it. While transparent and invisible, PKL and its photomask technology are deeply positioned in the center of digital revolution.