Hurricane Katrina has caused the shutdown of a New Orleans facility owned by Air Products and Chemicals Inc. that produces hydrogen used in the processing of silicon wafers. This is one of the US major sources of hydrogen used in the deposition of epitaxial films. Although the extent of the damage to the facility is unknown, Air Products indicated it would restore operations quickly. The timing of the restart will depend on the availability of power, utilities, communications, infrastructure access and the extent of the damage, according to the company. Based on initial assessments, damage from the hurricane will affect the capability to supply customers with hydrogen from this plant for an extended period. Exacerbating the situation, another liquid-hydrogen production facility of the company in Canada will be experiencing a scheduled shutdown. As a result, the vendor declared it would be unable to fulfill its obligations for delivery of liquid hydrogen. The supply disruption may seriously affect the processing of epitaxial films on silicon substrates, as they are critical in the manufacturing of higher-voltage semiconductors used in power management applications, market researcher firm iSuppli Corp. believes. Other suppliers of electronic-grade hydrogen are increasing their output to compensate for the shortfall. Furthermore, alternative purification techniques are being implemented by wafer fabs that will allow lower-grade hydrogen gas to be used for processing tasks. However, the full impact on the semiconductor supply chain remains unknown to date.
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