It's Safety First for Gas Suppliers at Semicon Inc

Suppliers to India's semiconductor manufacturing industry have sought a regulatory framework for handling of industrial gases, most of which are toxic and inflammable. The move is seen building investor trust by helping the fledgling chip ecosystem mature.

Suppliers want detailed guidelines from the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO), without which they believe commercial hubs face heightened risk of leaks, fires and process disruption.

This is particularly relevant as manufacturing ecosystem investments at the upcoming Tata fab in Dholera are scaling. Global suppliers such as Linde, Air Liquide and Inox Air Products are preparing infrastructure to service the fab. Additionally, companies such as Merck have signed a partnership with Tata Electronics to provide its full suite of products and services, including advanced gas and chemical delivery systems.

"Regulatory bodies need to come up with (an updated) framework because it does not cover all gases required for semiconductor manufacturing processes," a top executive from a global gas supplier told ET.

"Many of these are going to be manufactured in India for the first time. There are a lot of regulatory bodies that create the framework for dealing with cryogenic and hazardous gases, PESO being the leading one," the supplier added.

Executives say the process could involve around 50 gases, but very few are covered by the prevailing framework.

"We have been made aware of this matter by the industry, and we have asked them to provide us with a list of gases that need to be covered," said a government official, who did not wish to be named.

Some of the gases are also being imported. "Some will be specialised gases that India has not imported before; so, these bodies need regulations to be in place soon to keep pace with the ambition," the executive added.

Industrial and electronic specialty gases are a critical part of this ecosystem, with applications across wafer fabrication, deposition, etching, cleaning, atmosphere control, packaging, assembly and testing.

"We are looking at the standards that are in place in other countries that have more mature semiconductor manufacturing operations to understand best practices that we can adopt," said the government official. "The industry's own standards in this regard are quite exhaustive and are being reviewed as well."

India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA) said some critical gases required for semiconductor manufacturing -- helium, silane, phosphine, diborane and arsine -- are not currently made in India.

Others, such as hydrogen, argon and ammonia, while made in India, are not of the desired level of purity.

In addition, there are some highly specialised gases that will be used once fabs are operational, requiring specialised standards.

Diganta Sarma, head of business development & strategy at Inox Air Products, said semiconductor manufacturing requires gases at extremely stringent purity levels, along with specialised requirements for their packaging, testing, storage, transportation and handling.

"As newer semiconductor processes and electronic specialty gases are introduced at scale in India, the regulatory framework will need to continuously evolve to address these applications," Sarma said. "India should progressively benchmark its framework against globally accepted practices across the complete electronic-gases value chain, from purity specifications and analytical testing to packaging, cylinder and container compatibility, storage, transportation, gas-detection systems and safe handling."

Greater alignment with globally accepted practices would also make it easier for semiconductor manufacturers operating in India to integrate their local facilities with overseas manufacturing and supply chains, Sarma said.

Ashok Chandak, president, SEMI India and IESA, concurred. He said India shouldalign its semiconductor-gas ecosystem with SEMI global standards rather than develop a parallel India-specific regime with a simple objective: Global standards, Indian manufacturing capability, and uncompromised safety.

"India should avoid creating a parallel semiconductor-gas standards regime," he said. "The global semiconductor industry already has a strong standards framework through SEMI, including SEMI C3 for gas specifications and analytical procedures. BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards), PESO, ministry of electronics and information technology/India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) and industry should work together to harmonise Indian requirements with these global benchmarks -- while PESO continues to focus on the critical areas of safety, storage, transportation and handling of hazardous gases."

He said the country needs athree-layer framework:BIS for Indian standards and testing methods, PESO for safety and hazardous-gas handling, and SEMI for semiconductor-grade gas specifications and industry best practices. "BIS already has a committee whose scope explicitly includes high-purity specialty gases and gas mixtures.PESO's role isvery important, but it should not necessarily be the body that defines semiconductor gas purity specifications," he said.

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