Hitachi Cable to Expand Copper Backing Plate Output

Hitachi Cable announced on Wednesday the firm will expand output capacity of copper backing plate, which is used for sputtering equipments, at Tsuchiura plant in Ibaraki in February 2007 for 500 million yen. The firm tries to meet growing demand for products made by sputtering equipments including liquid crystal panel and optical disc. The firm targets 3 billion yen of backing plate sales in fiscal 2007 ending March 2008, which is 1.5 times of 2 billion yen in fiscal 2006. The firm adds machining and friction stir machines to meet higher demand. Baking plate is used for sputtering equipment, which is used to make crystal liquid panel, semiconductor element and optical disc, as backing plate of target materials. Copper is the major material for the backing plate, which needs performance as cooling plate and electrode, due to the higher conductivity and heat conductance. Hitachi Cable succeeded mass production of backing plate with friction stir welding method, which can make product with stronger joint and smaller warp when the product is attached with cap, for the first time in the world in 2001. The firm has 50% of market share for backing plate. The firm tries to develop new type of backing plate including products with better radiation, heat resistance and strength by making use of the integrated production system from copper raw materials to final products to meet users’needs.