AI is driving a surge in semiconductor manufacturing, but the same growth is increasing specialty gas consumption and making decarbonisation much more challenging.
Speaking during a gasworld webinar, Mike Walden, VP of Critical Materials Information at TechInsights said the rapid expansion of AI-driven semiconductor manufacturing is increasing demand for ultra-high-purity gases and advanced materials as chipmakers adopt ever-more complex manufacturing processes.
“If we speak about devices, that’s really driving higher purity, higher performance materials that are capable of addressing the process challenges,” he said.
As node sizes shrink and chip architectures become increasingly complex, semiconductor manufacturers are demanding higher-purity gases capable of meeting far tighter process tolerances.
The trend comes amid unprecedented growth in the semiconductor market, which TechInsights projects will generate $1.6 trillion in revenue in 2026 before surpassing $2 trillion the following year.
“That magic barrier [of $1 trillion] took us decades to achieve, and next year we’re actually going to double that up … the magnitude of that is almost mind-boggling,” said Walden.
However, the same technological advances driving demand for specialty gases are also increasing the environmental burden of semiconductor manufacturing.
As manufacturing becomes more complex and process layers increase, demand for specialty gases also rises – many of which carry extremely high global warming potential.
Dr Guy Davies, Chief Business Development Officer at DAS Environmental Experts said the industry’s growing reliance on increasingly sophisticated gases is creating one of semiconductor manufacturing’s biggest sustainability challenges.
“High purity gases are absolutely essential for nearly every process step in semiconductor manufacturing, including deposition, etching, cleaning and advanced packaging,” he said.
Davies said specialty gases also enable pattern transfer and support advanced ALD and CVD film deposition, adding, “Without the gases, we would be nowhere. However, those gases are not without their challenges.”
Among the most widely used are NF3 for deposition chamber cleaning, alongside CF4 for plasma etching and SF6, which is used in both cleaning and etching processes.
While essential to chip production, these fluorinated gases also have extremely high global warming potential. SF6 is among the most potent, with a global warming potential around 23,500 times greater than carbon dioxide over a 100-year period.
“We really don’t want those gases released to the atmosphere, so that is where the challenge is today,” said Davies.
Although the industry is working to replace these gases with lower-GWP alternatives, finding substitutes has proved difficult as shrinking chip geometries demand ever-higher performance from process gases.
As a result, many manufacturers are instead focusing on improving abatement technologies to reduce emissions.
Companies such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company use point-of-use abatement systems involving combustion, dry scrubbers, catalytic systems and hybrid thermo-oxidation methods. According to the company, these systems achieve destruction and removal efficiencies of 90 to 99% for regulated pollutants.
Similar approaches have been proposed for its Arizona facilities, where point-of-use abatement technologies are expected to reduce fluorinated greenhouse gas emissions by around 90%.
Read more:
Davies said sustainability has become “a key board-level KPI” for semiconductor manufacturers, with hyperscale technology companies increasingly using their influence to push suppliers to reduce Scope 1 emissions, improve energy efficiency and lower the overall environmental footprint of chip production.
“Looking to the future, we’ve got to change that. We need to think of a much more holistic approach to gas treatment, really looking at the environmental footprint and the fab efficiency.”
