Industry: Semiconductor electronics

Semiconductor Electronic Gas Safety Monitoring Integrated Solution

Industry Pain Points

Semiconductor electronics is a core technology sector facing "bottlenecks" in the country, and it is also an industry where the use of specialty gases (electronic gases + bulk gases) is the most complex and highest-risk: ① **Wafer fab**: silane SiH4 (spontaneously combustible, instantly ignites upon contact with air) + phosphine PH3 (highly toxic, IDLH 50 ppm) + chlorine Cl2 + HCl + HF + NH3 + hydrogen + deuterium + boron trichloride + chlorine trifluoride, totaling over 50 types of specialty gases; ② **Specialty Gas Supply Room (GAS BAY)**: hundreds of specialty gas cylinders stored centrally + automatic switching device + VMB valve box, any leakage triggers a 24-hour shutdown of the fab (shutdown costs $100-200 million per day); ③ **Panel / Display**: H2 + Ar + N2 + SiH4 used in Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) + B2H6; ④ **PCB Factory**: HCl + H2SO4 fumes + Cl2 (etching) + ammonia water (exposure and development); ⑤ **Ultra-clean Environment**: cleanliness ISO 4-5 (particles < 100/m³ with a size of 0.1μm) + AMC controlled to ppt (parts per trillion) level. Regulatory level: SEMI S6 International Semiconductor Safety Standard + GB 50457 + Emergency Management Bureau + Park Supervision, with a zero-tolerance standard.

Solution Overview

The specialized solution from U-Right Semiconductor strictly complies with SEMI S6 + SEMI S2 + GB 50457: ① **Gas Supply Bay**: Dedicated electrochemical/infrared probes for each gas cylinder + automatic switching VMB valve box linkage (automatic valve cutting + isolation + ventilation dilution for highly toxic leaks) + dual independent monitoring redundancy (System A + System B) + ppb-level sensitivity (PH3 triggers PC-TWA at 0.1 ppm); ② **Wafer Fab Process Area**: Dedicated gas probes for each CVD/PVD/etching/ion implantation process station + vacuum line leak monitoring + exhaust scrubber burn-off rate verification; ③ **Panel Factory/OLED**: H2 + organic vapor + particulate + anti-static; ④ **PCB Manufacturing**: HCl/Cl2 fumes + air volume + exhaust tower pH linkage; ⑤ **AMC Ultimate Control**: Silicon/boron/sodium/sulfur/chlorine/fluorine/ammonia various AMC ppt-level online monitoring, compliant with ITRS/SEMI specifications; ⑥ **EMS Integration**: All data is aggregated to the wafer fab EMS/FMCS (Facility Monitoring System), linked with MES (Manufacturing Execution System), and leakage directly halts the production line. Equipment is explosion-proof Ex d IIC T6 + SEMI S2 safety + UL certified.

## Key Monitoring Nodes

### Gas Bay (highest risk)

**Electronic Toxic Gas Detector** (Regulatory Core):
– **Phosphine (PH3)**: electrochemical sensor, 0-5 ppm, PC-TWA 0.3 mg/m³ (≈ 0.2 ppm), ppb-level trigger
– **Arsine AsH3**: 0-5 ppm, highly toxic
– **Silane SiH4**: 0-100% LEL (autoignition + explosion)
– **Borane B2H6**: 0-30 ppm, highly toxic
– **Hydrogen Chloride (HCl)**: 0-50 ppm
– **Chlorine trifluoride ClF3**: 0-10 ppm (strong oxidizer, spontaneously ignites with organic compounds)
– **Boron Trichloride BCl3**: 0-30 ppm

**Bulk Gases**:
– N2 / Ar oxygen deficiency (O2 < 19.5%)
– H2 LEL (semiconductor is widely used)
– Cl2 + NH3 (CMP polishing / etching)

### Process Station (Inside the Fab)

– **CVD / Epitaxy**: SiH4 + B2H6 + GeH4 + PH3 compounding
– **Etching**: Cl2 + HBr + BCl3 + CF4 / SF6
– **Ion implantation**: PH3 + AsH3 + B2H6 + BF3
– **CMP (Chemical-Mechanical Polishing)**: H2O2 + NH3 + particulate matter
– **Vacuum pump room**: pump body leakage + N2 oxygen deficiency
– **Inlet/outlet of exhaust scrubber**: processing efficiency ≥ 99.9% verified

### AMC Control (Core of Wafer Yield)

– Silicon (Si) / Boron (B) / Sodium (Na) / Sulfur (S) / Chlorine (Cl) / Fluorine (F) / Ammonia (NH3) at ppt levels
– Online IMS (Ion Mobility Spectrometry) + Offline GC-MS / IC (Ion Chromatography)
– Key areas: lithography room (DUV/EUV optical sensitive) + yellow light area + measurement room

### PCB Factory

– Etching line: HCl + Cl2 + air volume + exhaust tower pH
– Development line: ammonia + VOC
– Gold plating / copper deposition: hydrogen cyanide (highly toxic) + nickel hydrochloric acid mist

## Key Technical Specifications

– Explosion-proof: Ex d IIC T6 (covering IIC gases such as H2 / SiH4)
– SEMI S2 Safety Standard + UL 1604 / IECEx Certification
– Range: Electronic toxic gas detection with ppb-level sensitivity (measuring from 0.01 ppm for PH3 / AsH3)
– Response time: T90 < 5 seconds (critical time window for highly toxic + flammable gases)
– Operating temperature: clean workshop environment, 18-25℃ ± 0.5℃
– Communication: EtherCAT + Modbus + EthernetIP, interfacing with EMS / FMCS / MES
– Dual redundancy: The key monitoring points A and B are independent systems, ensuring that a single point failure does not compromise safety

## Implementation Essentials (Determining Success or Failure)

1. **Zero false alarms are a must**: a 1-day fab shutdown can result in a loss of $100-200 million, with a false alarm rate < 0.5% per month
2. **Automatic Leak Interlock**: In the event of a highly toxic leak, immediately close the corresponding VMB valve + activate the scrubber + notify EHS + isolate the area
3. **AMC ppt-level control**: Even a 1 ppt silicon contamination in DUV lithography can affect yield, necessitating multi-point sampling coupled with real-time ion chromatography analysis
4. **Lifecycle Support**: fab design – construction – commissioning – mass production – decommissioning (10-15 years), requiring service support across 5 stages
5. **SEMI S6 Compliance**: All gas monitoring station locations + alarm thresholds + linkage logic must comply with SEMI S6. Failure to meet the standards will result in failure to pass fab acceptance
6. **Data Access**: All data is uploaded to the central EMS 24/7 and backed up to the cloud, with the emergency management bureau's supervision platform interfaced

## Regulatory Basis

– SEMI S6 "Guidelines for Environmental, Health, and Safety Design of Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment"
– SEMI S2 "Guidelines for the Safety Design of Semiconductor Equipment Personnel"
– GB 50457-2019 "Design Standard for Cleanrooms in Pharmaceutical Industry" (also applicable to semiconductor industry)
– GB 50058-2014 Electrical Apparatus for Explosive Gas Atmospheres
– ISO 14644 clean room standard
– ITRS International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (AMC Control Specification)
– GBZ 2.1-2019 Limit Values

## Applicable Customers

Fab factories (SMIC / Hua Hong / Yangtze Memory Technologies / Changxin Memory / San'an Optoelectronics / China Resources Microelectronics / Silan Micro / Yandong Micro); Panels (BOE / CSOT / Visionox / TCL Huaxing / Tianma); OLED (BOE / Visionox / Hehui Optoelectronics); PCB (Pengding / Hu Dian / Jingwang / Shennan Circuit); Compound Semiconductor / Third-Generation Semiconductor (San'an / Haiwei Huaxin / Wentai); Power Semiconductor (China Resources Microelectronics / BYD Semiconductor / Hua Hong Hongli); Semiconductor Equipment Factory (Beifang Huachuang / MicroSense / Tuojing / Yitang).

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