Jeffrey D.Williams, Dept. of Defense, Ft. George G. Meade, MD, USA

ABSTRACT

Gases which have been used in the semiconductor industry are now being regarded as having serious environmental concerns. Aggressive programs are being developed to phase out and eliminate these gases, collectively known as PFCs. As a result,
 alternative gases are being sought for the applications of chamber cleaning and wafer etch. A number of alternatives have emerged for both applications, and their performance and properties are discussed. 

Stephen W. Blocki, Dürr Environmental Inc, Wixom, MI, USA

ABSTRACT

Many plants are struggling with the problems presented by VOC abatement systems such as oxidisers, concentrators, and solvent recovery systems; problems such as the initial investment which adds no value to the end product, the cost to operate and maintain the system, and the challenge of quickly responding to emergencies which risk shutting down entire production facilities. When new technologies offer hope to improve the situation, plants not well versed in abatement face the risk presented by new technology. 

Laura Mendicino, Victor Vartanian, Brian Goolsby & Paul Thomas Brown,
Motorola, DigitalDNA™ Laboratories, Austin, TX, USA

ABSTRACT

Many chemical vapour deposition (CVD) processes utilise new precursors and it is important to carry out environment, health and safety assessment of these during their use in R&D. Emissions characterisation is key to this process and a dry, hot scrubber system is described that can be utilised for point-of-use abatement in these advanced CVD processes. 

Richard Woodling, USFilter, Sunnyvale, CA, USA

ABSTRACT

The CMP solids are concentrated by the ceramic microfilter; a diafiltration system has been developed to remove copper from these solids. Laboratory trials of the crossflow filtration process were conducted, using ceramic membranes with pore sizes of 0.2 and 0.02 microns. Tests were performed on a pilot system, including a marathon test where the system operated on process-generated wastewater. Full-scale systems have now been designed and constructed.reated using standard technology, but the high-suspended-solids wastewater from CMP presents a new challenge. 

ABSTRACT

An improved technique has been developed to determine the destruction and removal efficiency (DRE) of point-of-use abatement systems (called local scrubbers). In this improved method, the DRE value is calculated using the exhaust gas mass flow rates. To determine the mass flow rates, the volumetric concentrations, measured by two Fourier transform infrared absorption spectrometers, as well as air temperatures, pressures and volumetric flow rates, are required. 

C. Mark Melliar-Smith, International SEMATECH, Austin, TX, USA

ABSTRACT

The semiconductor industry has become one of the most important industries in the global economy. Global revenues now exceed $200B and the annual growth rate of 15% is much higher than the economy as a whole (3-4%) or even other fast growing industries such as electronics (9%). In addition, the industry has a very high "value add" component - in other words, most of the value is generated inside the industry through its own design and manufacturing - as opposed to repackaging the work of others. In fact, in the United States, the semiconductor industry has the highest manufacturing value add of any of the industry segments defined by the US government. 

W. K. Olander, L. Wang, M. Donatucci & R. Frye, ATMI, Inc., Danbury, CT, USA

ABSTRACT

Critical information on the environmental, health and safety benefits offered by a new technology for reducing the associated risks of storing and delivering high pressure hazardous process materials [HPMs] follows. The Vacuum Actuated Cylinder [VAC™ gas source] provides the benefits of sub-atmospheric pressure actuation and reduced pressure delivery to a wide array of etch and CVD applications used in semiconductor and other industries. 

ABSTRACT

Semiconductor manufacturing requires usage of many different chemicals in various states of gases, liquid and solid materials. Air permitting is the most complex and long lead permit application phase associated with new and expansion plans in semiconductor processing.There are virtually one hundred chemicals to project, quantify and estimate potential emissions from numerous process equipment and air pollution devices. The detailed spreadsheet will show the complexity of the proposed facility and associated permit application process in the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District located in southern California.

Bryan Vonfeldt, Texas Instruments Inc., Dallas, TX, USA

ABSTRACT

Adding wafer fabrication capacity to meet demand in a short cycle time is a large challenge. The ability to work with key suppliers is critical to success. This article addresses the building infrastructure process. Our wafer fab construction team and our relationships with strategic suppliers are described. The payoffs of the approach described here are substantial.