Gas Recycling System for Semiconductor Manufacturing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Semiconductor manufacturing experiences significant waste of gases due to incomplete reaction during processing, leading to increased emissions, energy consumption, and operating costs, necessitating improved gas recycling systems.
Innovation Solution
A gas recycling system that includes a pump, filtration devices, and a gas supply system to recycle unreacted gases from processing chambers, achieving a purity content of 99.9% or higher, and reintroducing them for multiple uses within the processing chamber.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If unreacted gases are exhausted from processing chambers, then emissions and carbon footprint are increased, but gas recycling systems can reduce waste and operating costs
Solution Approach 1:
The system recovers unreacted gases from processing chambers through exhaust pumps and filtration devices, separating usable gas from impurities. The recovered high-purity gas is then reused in processing chambers, directly reducing gas waste while implementing a structured recovery process that manages system complexity through functional decomposition.
Solution Approach 2:
Filtration devices serve as intermediary components between the exhaust pump and gas supply system, removing impurities from unreacted gases. This intermediary filtering process enables the separation of waste removal from gas recovery functions, reducing overall gas waste while managing system complexity through specialized intermediate components.
2Reliability
If gases are filtered to achieve 99.9% purity, then gas quality for reuse is improved, but system complexity and filtration requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The filtration system performs preliminary cleaning of unreacted gases before they are reused in processing chambers. By removing impurities in advance through filtration devices, the system ensures high gas purity (99.9% or higher) is achieved before reuse, improving reliability while managing complexity through preventive filtration rather than post-processing.
3Productivity
If gas recycling is implemented, then operating costs are reduced, but system complexity and initial investment increase
Solution Approach 1:
The gas recycling system is designed to handle multiple gas types (reactant gases, inert gases, cleaning gases) through a unified multi-functional architecture. The pump, filtration devices, and gas supply system work together to recycle different gases using the same core components, improving gas utilization efficiency while reducing overall system complexity compared to separate systems for each gas type.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system effectively reduces gas waste, emissions, and energy consumption, lowering operating costs by reusing filtered gases for purging, cleaning, and processing, with up to 75% of hydrogen recovered for reuse.
Implementation Method 1
a pump configured to fluidly connect to one or more outlet passages of the processing chamber to exhaust a gas from the processing chamber
Implementation Method 2
The one or more filtration devices are configured to remove one or more impurities from the gas to generate a filtered gas that has a purity content of 99.9% or higher
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure generally relates to gas recycling systems, substrate processing systems, and related apparatus and methods for semiconductor manufacturing. In one or more implementations, unreacted gases from chambers can be used, recycled, and used one or more additional times. In one implementation, a gas recycling system includes a pump configured to fluidly connect to one or more outlet passages of a processing chamber to exhaust a gas from the processing chamber. The system includes one or more filtration devices in fluid communication with the pump such that the gas flows from the pump to the one or more filtration devices. The one or more filtration devices are configured to remove one or more impurities from the gas. The system includes a gas supply system in fluid communication with the one or more filtration devices such that the filtered gas flows to the gas supply system.