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Detoxifying exhaust gas from device production processes

April 15th, 2021
Detoxifying exhaust gas from device production processes
Fig.1: The example of conventional atmospheric pressure abatement deviceIn the conventional abatement device, the pump outlet of the device manufacturing device is diluted with huge amount of nitrogen gas to ensure safety of the piping to the abatement device, and it is detoxified by high temperature heat treatment under atmospheric pressure. As a reactor, combustion type, heater type and plasma type are generally used. The cost of nitrogen gas and energy of heating up the nitrogen are wasted. Credit: Kanken Techno Co., Ltd.

Manufacturing process for industries of electronics, such as semiconductors, flat panel displays, and solar batteries uses dangerous toxic and flammable gases, such as silane gas and hydrogen gas. Currently, to detoxify these dangerous gases, a thermal oxidation reaction, in which they are heated to 1000℃ or more and decomposed is mainly used. For example, as silane gas, which is often used in the chemical vapor disposition (CVD) process for semiconductors, causes an explosive reaction when it comes into contact with the air, after diluting the concentration with large amounts of nitrogen gas so that the concentration is below the lower explosion limit, it can be heat-treated and detoxified. Previously, the development of reacting furnace structures was limited to improving the efficiency of heating means and reducing wasted energy, such as heat dissipation, so the development of a drastic technology that can realize energy savings has become an important issue.

In the JST Adaptable and Seamless Technology Transfer Program through Target-driven R&D (A-STEP), corporate development for detoxifying dangerous gases with high efficiency and low energy has been entrusted to Kanken Techno Co. Ltd, based on the results of the research by Professor Takanori Ichiki of the Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo.

The development team has focused on the fact that the lower explosion limit depends on pressure of flammable gases and examined the pressure conditions at which the amount of dilution gases can be reduced. Reducing the pressure within the pipe from the pump outlet of the device manufacturing equipment to the exhaust gas abatement device, they created an environment in which the lower explosion limit was increased and no chemical reaction was caused. Additionally, as the heat source for breaking down exhaust gases, they discovered the optimal conditions for stably generating arc plasma, which is normally generated in atmospheric pressure, in a reduced pressure state of approximately 0.1 to 10 kPa. In this way, they made it possible to perform detoxification processing by thermally reacting the dangerous gas with oxygen, using the arc plasma heat source, within an exhaust gas abatement device in a reduced pressure state. Since dilution with large quantities of nitrogen gas is unnecessary with the CVD process, the amount of energy required for exhaust gas processing has been successfully reduced by up to 75% when processing silane gas.

Detoxifying exhaust gas from device production processes
Fig. 2: New abatement device developed in this study In the abatement device developed in this study, the low explosion limit of flammable gas in the piping is raised by reducing the pressure. The inside of blue dotted line is maintained in low pressure about 0.1 to 10 kPa. Unlike conventional equipment, no dilution nitrogen gas introduction is needed into pump outlets. In addition, the energy used to heat up the nitrogen also is not needed. Credit: Kanken Techno Co., Ltd.

The developed abatement system can be simply applied to exhaust gases containing flammable gases requiring nitrogen gas dilution other than silane gas by optimizing the processing conditions, without changing the device structure. This promises to find applications in manufacturing devices using hydrogen gases, such as the hydrogen processing of silicon wafers, epitaxial growth, and ashing of organic films.

Detoxifying exhaust gas from device production processes
Fig 3 The abatement device developed in this studyOutside dimension 1350W x 900D x 1860H. Credit: Kanken Techno Co., Ltd.

Provided by Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)

Citation: Detoxifying exhaust gas from device production processes (2021, April 15) retrieved 26 July 2024 from https://sciencex.com/wire-news/379934894/detoxifying-exhaust-gas-from-device-production-processes.html
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