Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (Allentown, PA), says it will undertake two new silicon tetrafluoride (SiF4) expansion projects to meet global semiconductor and optical fiber demand.

The announcement comes only two months after the company completed a previously announced SiF4 capacity ramp-up at its Morrisville, PA, facility.

Air Products says it has begun construction of a full-scale SiF4 plant at its Shihwa, Korea, specialty electronics gas facility. It expects to open the unit in the first quarter of 2001. It will give the company a regional gas supply to serve Asian customers.

Air Products will also begin construction of a new SiF4 plant in Catoosa, OK, in January. It expects to open the facility in the third quarter of 2001.

Semiconductor manufacturers use SiF4 to deposit fluorinated silicon glass dielectric layers on integrated circuits (ICs) using chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The fiber optics industry uses high-purity SiF4 in vapor axial deposition (VAD) to dope cladding layers to improve the refractive index of fiber optic cables.

"We are globally positioned to be the leading electronics specialty gas technology roadmap supplier," says Air Products Electronics Div. global marketing manager Joseph Stockunas.

"SiF4 will be increasingly required for use as critical dielectric process material for 0.18 to 0.13 micron geometrics and in the manufacture of fiber optic cables," he explains. He expects these markets to grow 15-30% annually over the next few years.

Edited by Alan S. Brown, Managing Editor, Chemical Online abrown@vertical.net

Last modified: 6 September 2001

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