In processes of manufacturing semiconductors, reactive by-products (as a form of fine powder, i.e., dust) are deposited in pipes installed on post processing and exhaust systems, potentially involving a considerable explosion risk. In this study, the effectiveness of scrubber methods (e.g., dry scrubber and burn-wet scrubber) to mitigate the risk was evaluated. To this end, three by-products generated from a ZrO₂ atomic layer deposition (ALD) process were collected from semiconductor manufacturers, which were treated with different methods (i.e., no treatment, treatment using dry scrubber, and treatment using burn-wet scrubber), and their characteristics were analyzed and compared. Particle size measurements of the by-products proved that the burn-wet scrubber treatment less decreased their particle size than the dry scrubber treatment. The burn-wet scrubber treatment made the by-product thermally stable, confirmed by thermogravimetric analysis. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy of the by-products before and after the scrubber treatments showed that burn-wet scrubbing of the by-product decreases surface functionalities that play a role in explosion. Dust explosion testing proved that robustness of explosion of the untreated by-product is about 7 times higher than the by-product treated with the burn-wet scrubber. Based on the results of this study, it would be suggested that burn-wet scrubber is a useful treatment method to decrease the explosion risks caused by dust by-products generated from ALD in semiconductor manufacturing processes.

在制造半导体的过程中，反应性副产物（以细粉形式，即粉尘）沉积在安装在后处理和排气系统上的管道中，可能会带来巨大的爆炸危险。在这项研究中，评估了洗涤器方法（例如干式洗涤器和干湿式洗涤器）减轻风险的有效性。为此，ZrO ₂产生了三种副产物从半导体制造商那里收集原子层沉积（ALD）工艺，并用不同的方法（即不进行处理，使用干式洗涤器进行处理和使用湿式洗涤器进行处理）进行处理，并对它们的特性进行分析和比较。副产物的粒度测量证明，干湿式洗涤器处理比干式洗涤器处理减少了较小的粒度。通过热重分析证实，燃烧湿式洗涤器处理使副产物热稳定。洗涤器处理前后副产物的傅立叶变换红外光谱显示，副产物的燃烧湿法洗涤降低了表面功能，而表面功能在爆炸中起作用。灰尘爆炸测试证明，未经处理的副产物的爆炸鲁棒性是用燃烧湿式洗涤器处理过的副产物的约7倍。根据这项研究的结果，建议将湿法洗涤器作为一种有用的处理方法，以减少半导体制造过程中由ALD产生的粉尘副产物引起的爆炸风险。