Industrial demand puts NOF’s UV???? AZ® AQUATAR VII in the spotlight

NOF’s AZ AQUATAR VII photoresist targets advanced packaging lines that need fine patterning with lower environmental impact. The water-based resist is already used in leading semiconductor fabs and sits at the core of the group’s electronic materials strategy.

Edited by ad hoc news Flagship & Bestseller Desk. Reviewed before publication on 06/15/2026 at 10:17 AM ET. Details in the imprint.

Growing demand for advanced semiconductor packaging is pushing specialty chemicals group NOF’s UV???? AZ AQUATAR VII photoresist further into focus on production floors. The water-based resist is designed for fine-line patterning on redistribution layers and other packaging steps where manufacturers want to cut solvent use without sacrificing resolution or throughput.

What AZ AQUATAR VII is designed to do on the fab floor

AZ AQUATAR VII is part of NOF’s long-running AZ-branded electronic materials lineup, providing a negative-tone, water-based photoresist for packaging processes such as fan-out wafer-level packaging, build-up layers on organic substrates and redistribution layers that require good step coverage and high aspect-ratio patterning. According to NOF’s own technical overview, the series is engineered to deliver both high sensitivity and strong adhesion while using water rather than traditional organic solvents as the main dispersion medium, a combination aimed at lowering volatile organic compound emissions compared with conventional solvent-heavy resists. NOF’s electronics materials information describes AZ AQUATAR products as tailored to advanced packaging and redistribution processes.

The formulation targets line-and-space structures down into the single-digit micrometer range, depending on process conditions, enabling redistribution and wiring patterns fine enough for current-generation system-in-package and high-density interconnect applications. Industry coverage of advanced packaging materials notes that water-based negative resists like AZ AQUATAR VII are used to form thick films with relatively low internal stress, a key property for redistribution layers that have to survive repeated thermal cycling during device operation and assembly reflow. One technical summary of packaging processes highlights that such resists can be spin coated to tens of micrometers in thickness, then developed with aqueous chemistries that fit into existing wet bench infrastructure with only limited modification. An overview of advanced packaging materials notes that thick-film water-based photoresists are now standard tools for redistribution and bumping steps at leading outsourced assembly and test houses.

By relying on water as the principal solvent, AZ AQUATAR VII is also meant to support fabs and packaging houses that are trying to reduce flammable solvent inventories and related exhaust-treatment loads. That environmental angle has become more concrete as chipmakers in Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and beyond commit to longer-term carbon and emissions targets for their facilities. Market analysts following the photoresist sector point out that demand for packaging-specific resists is growing faster than for some mature front-end applications as more value migrates into multichip integration and 2.5D or 3D system-in-package designs. In a recent industry report on electronic chemicals, NOF is listed among the key Japanese suppliers of specialty resists for packaging and display applications, alongside larger global names in the lithography ecosystem. Market research on photoresist demand underlines that advanced packaging is one of the fastest-growing end uses.

Within NOF’s portfolio, AZ AQUATAR VII sits in the broader category of functional chemicals for electronics that also includes underfill materials, solder resists and other UV-curable formulations. These products are typically sold directly to semiconductor manufacturers and packaging subcontractors in Asia, Europe and North America, often under multi-year supply contracts where process stability matters more than headline pricing. While NOF does not break out revenue for individual product lines, it reports electronic materials as a significant contributor within its chemicals segment, which benefits from secular growth in semiconductor content across automotive, industrial and consumer devices.

For NOF, maintaining a differentiated position in water-based and specialty packaging resists such as AZ AQUATAR VII is strategically important as global chipmakers diversify supplier bases and seek materials that support both higher integration densities and stricter environmental targets. Shares of NOF (JP3203500008) closed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange at JPY 3,315 on 06/14/2026.

NOF’s AZ AQUATAR VII in brief: the hard facts

• Product: UV???? AZ AQUATAR VII
• Manufacturer: NOF Co., Ltd.
• Category: Flagship/Bestseller semiconductor photoresist
• Launch date: Not publicly specified; part of the established AZ AQUATAR series
• MSRP / Price: Contract-based industrial pricing; not disclosed
• Availability: Supplied directly to semiconductor fabs and packaging houses, primarily in Asia, Europe and North America
• Target audience: Semiconductor manufacturers and outsourced assembly and test providers running advanced packaging and redistribution layer processes
• Key differentiator / USP: Water-based negative photoresist optimized for thick-film, fine-line patterning in advanced packaging with lower reliance on organic solvents

This article was a.i.-assisted and editorially reviewed. Product information without warranty; prices and availability may change at short notice. Not investment advice and not a buy or sell recommendation. Trading involves risk up to and including the total loss of invested capital.