AVS 50th International Symposium
    Technology for Sustainability Thursday Sessions
       Session AT-ThM

Paper AT-ThM7
Enhanced Safety, Reliability and Cost Control with Integrated Gas Control Packages

Thursday, November 6, 2003, 10:20 am, Room 320

Session: Development and Implementation of Sustainable Processes
Presenter: R.M. Pearlstein, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
Authors: N.A. Downie, Air Products and Chemicals, UK
J.J. Hart, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
J. Irven, Air Products and Chemicals, UK
R.E. Parise, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
R.M. Pearlstein, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
J. VanOmmeren, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
Correspondent: Click to Email
The high-pressure gas cylinder is a reliable package for containing and transporting a wide variety of specialty gases used in semiconductor processing operations. These packages are typically used in gas cabinets that feed the delivery lines leading to the point of use. We found it to be advantageous to move some of the functions that control the pressure, flow and purity of the gas away from the gas cabinet panels, where they are conventionally found, by integrating them directly onto the gas cylinder package itself. In this paper, we will outline a number of these integrated functions, and demonstrate how they can lead to improved safety and product quality while also lowering the users' cost of ownership (COO). For example, by integrating a fixed, sub-atmospheric pressure regulator into the cylinder valve, gas will only be dispensed when the suction of the process equipment is applied. As a result, the risk of a hazardous gas release to the atmosphere can be substantially controlled. Further, these integrated delivery systems can permit a greater filling density of the process gas compared to dilute mixtures or low-pressure adsorbent systems. The increased gas inventory significantly reduces the cost of ownership of the system by reducing down-time for cylinder replacements while still effectively mitigating the high pressure risks.