New gallium- bearing zones discovered

Equipment & Materiats Processing

Sumitomo forms gallium refining JV in Shanghai S u m i t o m o C h e m i c a l Co

The plant will have the capacity

(Osaka, J a p a n ) has f o r m e d a joint v e n t u r e in Shanghai, China

to refine 40 tons p e r year

to e x p a n d high-purity gallium

process). Sttmitomo Chemical

p r o d u c t i o n . O w n e r s h i p is:

already p r o d u c e s 40 tons p e r

• 70% S u m i t o m o Chemical;

year in J a p a n a n d is to boost

• 15% I n a b a t a & Co; a n d

that to 60 t o n s w i t h i n the year

• 15% Technical Sourcing

(so total capacity will b e over

International.

100 tons p e r year).

New galliumbearing zones discovered Following its acquisition in J u n e of gallium m i n i n g fights

(using S u m i t o m o ' s o w n

o n the Cordero p r o p e r t y in Nevada, USA (see Issue 6, page 12), Gold C a n y o n Resources I n c (Vancouver, BC, Canada) has received final assay results from I n s p e c t o r a t e / R o c k y M o u n t a i n Laboratories for the s e c o n d g r o u p of samples from

Airtron GaAs shut down

its Phase I sampling program. These have identified three major n e w zones (North Ruja;

Since acquiring wafer manufac-

N o r t h r o p G r u m m a n is said

Southwest Extension; a n d

turer Litton Airtron (Morris

to be n o t c o n t i n u i n g to p r o d u c e GaAs wafers.

W h i t e Hills) w i t h values u p to

take-over of Litton Industries ( a n n o u n c e d last December),

However, there is still a

t o n n e , in addition to values u p

possibility that the SiC division

123.7 g/t in the Harper Pit a n d

N o r t h r o p G r u m m a n Corp (Los

North East Bradley Pits areas of

Angeles, CA, USA) had b e e n try-

may c o n t i n u e ( N o r t h r o p G r u m m a n already had SiC

ing to sell the business but, after

substrate- a n d d e v i c e - m a k i n g

not finding any takers, it has n o w

t e c h n o l o g y before its acquisi-

closed the p r o d u c t i o n facility.

t i o n o f Litton).

Plains, NJ, USA) as part of its

103.8 grams gallium p e r metric

the existing "M" Fault Zone. i Gold C a n y o n is due to b e g i n ! Phase I drilling in mid-October. ! * Robert G C a r r i n g t o n - presid e n t of the Nevada-based subsidiary Gold C a n y o n Resources

EMF continues growth

USA Inc f o r m e d in J u n e - has b e e n a p p o i n t e d CEO of Gold

EblF Ltd (Cambridge, UK) says it

Also, for more c o m p l e x struc-

has seen record chemical sales

tures w i t h regrowth, TBA a n d

in Q2/2001 ( a n d 200% g r o w t h over the last 12 m o n t h s , mainly

TBP give b e t t e r p e r f o r m a n c e

for DEOXTMA and EpiProofTBP),

the lower-temperature cracking.

reflecting the large n u m b e r of MOCVD tools sold over the last few years. G r o w t h is mainly in the US a n d Taiwan. It forecasts c o n t i n u e d g r o w t h in Q3-Q4. The DEOX range of TMA,TMG a n d TMI c a n b e used w h e r e l o w o x y g e n c o n t e n t is n e e d e d (particularly for VCSELs).The d e m a n d for group V p r e c u r s o r s TBA a n d TBP has also risen

d u e to the l o w e r V/III ratio a n d

N e w materials i n c l u d i n g the

Canyon Resources Inc.

BOC Edwards launches methylsilane

nitrogen source EpiProof uDMHy and DTBSi (a metal-organic

After c o m p l e t i n g characteriza-

source r e p l a c e m e n t for silane)

tion in May, BOC Edwards

have seen double-digit growth.

(Crawley, UK) has b e g u n pro-

EMF's d o u b l i n g i n capacity is o n target. The M o c h e m g r o u p V facility at Marburg, G e r m a n y should also d o u b l e over the

d u c t i o n a n d c u s t o m e r sampling of m o n o m e t h y l s i l a n e a n d monomethylsilane/hydrogen m i x t u r e s (used as a c a r b o n precursor in the CVD of SiGeC).

n e x t 12 m o n t h s .

sharply, preferred b y m a n y start-

EMF is also p i o n e e r i n g a n e w

u p s to arsine and p h o s p h i n e .

t e c h n i q u e for in-situ m o n i t o r -

The shift is driven b y safety and the authorities (especially in the

ing of c h e m i c a l s d u r i n g the v a c u u m filling process, replac-

US). However, there is an advan-

ing certification b y ICP a n d

tage in using MO's over hydrides

NMR ( w h i c h are n o l o n g e r

Several c u s t o m e r studies are n o w u n d e r w a y to tailor specifications and m i x t u r e s to individual applications. Special m o n o m e t h y l s i l a n e b l e n d s are available.

i n terms of p u r i t y (especially

effective for m e a s u r e m e n t s at

The e l e c t r o n i c materials

for silane).TBP also eliminates

the ultra-low levels of i m p u r i -

g r o u p is also d e v e l o p i n g o t h e r

deposits in the exhaust line

ties n o w s e e n i n the DEOX

materials for low-k a n d SiGe

(a fire hazard for PH3).

grade materials).

applications.

I I I - V s R E V I E W THE A D V A N C E D S E M I C O N D U C T O R M A G A Z I N E V O L z 4 - N O 8 - O c t o b e r a o o z