DUBLIN, OH–The Electronic Chemicals Division of Ashland Specialty Chemical Co., a division of Ashland Inc. has acquired the assets of MicroClean, Inc., a provider of equipment parts cleaning, refurbishment and management services to the semiconductor manufacturing industry, with facilities located in Tempe, Ariz., and Austin, Texas.

A recent recipient of Intel’s Preferred Quality Supplier (PQS) award and TI’s Supplier Excellence Award, Ashland’s Electronic Chemical’s Division provides ultrapure wet process chemicals, photoresist strippers, etch-residue removers and on-site chemical management services.

“By bringing MicroClean into our Electronic Chemicals Division, we offer a new and valued service that once again demonstrates our ongoing commitment to satisfy the increasing and changing needs of our customers,” says Charles W. Cook, Jr., vice president and general manager, Ashland’s Electronic Chemicals Division.

Van Hemeyer, co-founder of MicroClean, will serve as business manager of the unit. “Ashland’s expertise in the production and management of electronic chemicals will bring added synergies to our combined customer base. The goal is to put ourselves in a position to redefine the scope and level of services provided to fabs,” he says.

Ashland Specialty Chemical Company’s Electronic Chemicals Division has ISO 9002-certified production facilities in Dallas, Texas; Easton, Pa.; Pueblo, Colo.; Milan, Italy; and Seoul, Korea. Ashland Union Electronic Chemical Company (AUECC), a 50/50 joint venture with Union Petrochemical, is scheduled for start-up in late-2000 in Taiwan.?Mark A. DeSorbo