Preliminary Survey Report: Control Technology for Gallium Arsenide Processing at Hewlett Packard, San Jose, California

摘要

A walk-through survey of the Hewlett Packard Company (SIC-3674) facility in San Jose, California, was prompted by an interest in the use of gallium-arsenide (1303000) as an alternative to silicon for the semiconductor industry. This facility produced gallium-arsenide and gallium-phosphide (12063988). Potential hazards existed from solvents, acids, and gases employed in wafer production. Some of the solvents included fluorocarbon compounds, xylene (1330207), and 1,1,1-trichloroethane (25323891). Arsine (7784421), phosphine (7803512), hydrogen (1333740), and silane (7803625) gases were used in the production processes. Worker exposures to gallium-arsenide or arsenic (7440382) dust were lower during the cleaning operation than they had been in other similar facilities, perhaps due to the small size of the crystal pullers used at this particular facility. According to the author, this facility is a possible candidate for an in depth industry survey, but may not be representative of the entire industry.