Air Products plans new plant

Air Products announced recently that it will construct a nitrogen trifluoride (NF

) plant in

to support the fast growing Asian semiconductor and liquid crystal display (LCD) markets.

The new production facility will be operated by Air Products Korea Electronics and will be constructed at the company's specialty gas site in Ulsan. The first phase of the new plant will produce in excess of 500 metric tons per year and will be completed in late 2007. Upon completion, Air Products' global NF₃ capacity will be more than 2,500 metric tons per year.

This will be the company's second Electronic Specialty Material (ESM) investment at Ulsan after recently bringing on-stream an ultra-high purity ammonia plant in 2005. This facility complements other Korean ESM facilities in Shiwha, Banwol, Cheonan and Pyeongtaek.

NF₃ is used as a chamber cleaning gas in the manufacture of semiconductors, flat panel displays and other electronic devices. When compared with competing products, NF₃ is said to offer customers significant reductions in emissions, throughput increases of up to 30 percent, longer chamber life and faster clean rates.