February 12, 2007 – Four months after its initial announcement, Air Products has broken ground on a new nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) plant adjacent to existing facilities in Ulsan, South Korea, to support growing demand from domestic manufacturers of semiconductors and liquid-crystal displays.
Phase One of the new site will ramp to around 500 metric tons/year by late 2007, accounting for about 20% of the company’s projected NF3 global output of 2500 metric tons/year.
The stable and nonflammable gas is used in chamber cleaning processes for manufacturing semiconductors, flat-panel displays, and other electronic devices, significantly improving emissions and increasing throughput by up to 30%, the company claims.