Nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) is predominantly used to clean process equipment chambers used in manufacturing semiconductors, thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) and photovoltaic solar cells.
This safe, high-performance and cost effective gas is used throughout the world, and has been uniquely developed to replace other, more environmentally damaging materials for chamber cleans, like perfluorocarbons (PFC) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6).
Dave Cooper, Global NF3 and F2 Product Manager at Air Products told gasworld, “NF3 has been shown to have enabled a substantial reduction in emissions of high global warming potential (GWP) gases to the atmosphere because of its higher rate of dissociation and higher destruction efficiency (and correspondingly decreased emissions).”
NF3 was introduced to the semiconductor market in the 1980s, Cooper added, “Working in conjunction with several major equipment and semiconductor manufacturers, Air Products participated in a substantial industry-wide development effort that resulted in the widespread adoption of NF3 as an alternative chamber cleaning gas to SF6 and the PFC gases that had previously been in use.”
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