# Electronic specialty gases

Ultra-high-purity gases (NF3, WF6, fluorocarbons, silane, neon, helium) that clean, etch, deposit and dope chip layers; a $6.3-6.5 billion market with large climate side effects.

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/electronic_gases/

Specialty chemicals · Electronic chemicals · No. 70

- Product family
- Feedstock: Minerals and salts
- not published as a tonnage; US sales of neon were about 110 million litres in 2025 (USGS); NF3 is the largest specialty gas by value (indicative)
- 43.0 t CO₂e per t
- HS 281219, 281290
 Specialty chemicals · Electronic chemicals · Foundation · Matter

Before 2022, Ukrainian steelworks quietly supplied nearly half the world's neon, a gas chipmakers depend on.

Chart: Illustration: Electronic specialty gases

##### Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Fluorine gases start from fluorspar and HF; WF6 needs about 0.62 t of tungsten per tonne; neon and xenon are side streams of steelworks air plants.

##### Three things to know

1. Tungsten hexafluoride grew 12% in 2025 because it lays the tungsten word lines inside stacked 3D NAND memory chips.
2. Neon makes up just 18 ppm of air, so it is skimmed from giant air separation units at steelworks.
3. Helium is a tiny cost: about $6 of it goes into an $18,000 EUV logic wafer in 2026.

##### The journey

1. 1 **Raw materials**Fluorspar, tungsten, natural gas and air
2. 2 **Synthesis**Electrolysis or fluorination makes NF3, WF6
3. 3 **Purification**Distilled to 99.999% or purer
4. 4 **Cylinders, ISOs**Shipped sealed to chip fab clusters
5. 5 **Chip fab**Cleans, etches, deposits and dopes layers

##### Go deeper pick a tab to open it in full

## Other sections

- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/electronic_gases/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/electronic_gases/correlation/index.md)
- [Production route](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/electronic_gases/routes/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/electronic_gases/production/index.md)
- [Feedstocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/electronic_gases/feedstocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/electronic_gases/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/electronic_gases/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/electronic_gases/movement/index.md)
- [Regulation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/electronic_gases/regulation/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/electronic_gases/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/electronic_gases/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/electronic_gases/links/index.md)