Versum Materials celebrated the grand opening of its $20 million technology center in Hometown Tuesday morning.

Company and government officials, as well as hundreds of other guests, gathered to commemorate the occasion with speeches, a ribbon cutting and a tour of the semi-operational facility which used to be Air Products and Chemicals Inc.

The new center will house the company’s process materials and organometallic precursors technology organizations.

“Versum Materials has invested more than $20 million in the Hometown facility over the last two years, and we are very excited about our most recent addition to this state-of-the-art facility,” Versum representative Tiffany Zinn said.

“This facility is an integral part of our company’s operations and philosophy to work here and ship overseas.”

The materials team will use this new center to focus on specialty materials manufacturing improvements and the identification of new etching and cleaning gases.

These processes augment a 30-plus year reputation for fluorine manufacturing technology.

The facility will also allow the organometals team to more quickly synthesize, test and deliver new organometallic precursors. The center includes new synthesis/experimental products labs, an atomic layer deposition/chemical vapor deposition applications lab, added quality and analytical capabilities, and container design and build capabilities.

One of the materials they hope to be shipping overseas starting this summer is the inorganic molecular compound known as nitrogen trifluoride or NF3, which has become an increasingly popular etchant and cleaner for microelectronics.

“We’re on the forefront of innovation,” Versum Senior Vice President of Materials Ed Shober said. “Through the production of NF3 and other compounds we’re producing safer, faster and easier to use compounds for our customers.”

The Hometown Versum facility broke off from Air Products and Chemicals Inc. back in May 2017. Since then, the products and manufacturing changed very little, but company culture had grown substantially, according to Zinn.

Senior leader in Versum’s global technology team Jim Hart said that since the company switched to Versum, there’s been a refinement to procedures.

“We have grown a dynamic group of Ph.D.s and have joined our campus and the other facilities more effectively than ever before,” Hart said. “We continue to scale up and stay just as connected, which benefits the community and our customers. Our Hometown facility continues to play an important role in our company’s success. This investment will facilitate significant advancements in the semiconductor industry.”

Versum boasts a large local employee base and is third in the Lehigh Valley region only behind Lehigh Valley Heath Network and St. Luke’s Hospital. The company employs 250 people at the Hometown location, with roughly 30 scientists calling the 150,000 square-foot technology center home.

“(Versum) is one of the biggest employers I represent from here to the Lancaster area and according to statistics, your pay rate is among the best in the region,” Sen. David Argall said.

“But it’s not just … maintaining the status quo. The company’s invested — just in the last year — $60 million here in Hometown, while creating advance degree in chemistry and chemical engineering, which are not just the jobs of today, but the jobs of our future.”