Ultra-pure wet chemicals
Commodity acids, peroxide, ammonia and solvents purified to parts-per-trillion metal levels to clean and etch chip wafers; a $4.6 billion market.
Specialty chemicals · Electronic chemicals · No. 71
- Product family
- Feedstock: Minerals and salts
- not published as a world tonnage
- 1.2 t CO₂e per t
- HS 280700, 281111
Chip fabs wash wafers in ordinary acids, scrubbed so clean that metals are counted in parts per trillion.
Chart: Illustration: Ultra-pure wet chemicals
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
Each starts as a commodity, such as sulphuric acid from a world output of about 230 Mt a year, then is purified and tested lot by lot.
Three things to know
- Hydrogen peroxide is the biggest wet chemical by value, at 29.84% of the market, because it appears in many cleaning recipes.
- In 2019 Japan curbed exports of high-purity HF to Korea, showing how purity know-how can become a trade weapon.
- India already makes the base chemicals, including 60 kt a year of anhydrous HF at Navin Fluorine, but imports electronic grades.
The journey
- 1 Base chemicalTechnical sulphuric acid, HF, peroxide, ammonia
- 2 PurificationDistilled, ion-exchanged and membrane filtered
- 3 Lot testingICP-MS checks dozens of metals at ppt
- 4 Clean packagingFluoropolymer-lined drums and ISO tanks
- 5 Chip fabCleans, etches and strips wafers