California Code of Regulations
Title 17 - Public Health
Division 3 - Air Resources
Chapter 1 - Air Resources Board
Subchapter 10 - Climate Change
Article 4 - Regulations to Achieve Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions
Subarticle 2 - Semiconductors and Related Devices
Section 95322 - Definitions

Universal Citation: 17 CA Code of Regs 95322

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 38, September 20, 2024

(a) For the purposes of this article, the following definitions apply:

(1) "Alternative Chemistries" means the substitution of a fluorinated gas in the chamber cleaning or etching process to increase utilization efficiency and reduce the carbon dioxide equivalent emissions.

(2) "Calendar Year" means the time period from January 1 through December 31.

(3) "Carbon Dioxide Equivalent" or "CO2e" means a measure for comparing carbon dioxide with other greenhouse gases, based on the quantity of those gases multiplied by the appropriate global warming potential (GWP) factor.

(4) "CO2e Emissions Limit" means the maximum allowable kilograms of CO2e emissions per square centimeter of wafers processed in a calendar year.

(5) "Chamber Cleaning" means the process of using fluorinated gases to remove excess materials from chemical vapor deposition chamber walls to prevent contamination of wafers to be processed.

(6) "Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD)" means deposition of thin films on wafers by placing the wafers in a mixture of gases, including nitrogen or another gas used as a carrier, which react at the surface of the wafers.

(7) "Equipment" means any article, machine, or other contrivance, or combination thereof, which may cause the issuance or control the issuance of fluorinated gas emissions in etching or CVD chamber cleaning processes.

(8) "Etching" means a chemical reactive process for selectively removing material on a wafer using fluorinated, ionized gases.

(9) "Fluorinated Gases" means a compound that contains fluorine and exists in a gaseous state at 25 degrees Celsius and 1 atmosphere of pressure. Fluorinated gases include, but are not limited to:
(A) hexafluoroethane (C2F6),

(B) octafluoropropane (C3F8),

(C) octafluorocyclopentene (C5F8),

(D) tetrafluoromethane (CF4),

(E) trifluoromethane (CHF3),

(F) difluoromethane (CH2F2),

(G) octafluorocyclobutane (c-C4F8),

(H) octafluorotetrahydrofuran (C4F8O),

(I) hexafluoro-1,3-butadiene (C4F6),

(J) carbon fluoride oxide (COF2),

(K) nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), and

(L) sulfur hexafluoride (SF6).

(10) "Global Warming Potential (GWP)" means the radiative forcing impact of one mass-based unit of a given greenhouse gas relative to an equivalent unit of carbon dioxide over a given period of time.

(11) "Global Warming Potential Value" or "GWP Value" means the global warming potential value of a chemical or compound as specified in the IPCC: 1996 Second Assessment Report (SAR), Table 2.14, in Climate Change 2007: The Physical Sciences Basis, Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is incorporated by reference herein.

If Table 2.14 does not contain a SAR 100-year GWP Value for a specific chemical or compound, then the 100-year GWP Value in Table 2.14 for that chemical or compound must be used.

(12) "Heat Transfer Fluid" means a fluorinated fluid which prevents a device, such as a semiconductor, from overheating by removing excess heat produced during a manufacturing process.

(13) "Permitting Agency" means any air pollution control district or air quality management district.

(14) "Process Optimization" means the practice of using end-point detectors and/or process parameter variation to achieve optimum gas usage to reduce excess fluorinated gas emissions.

(15) "Semiconductor Operation" means an operation performed to process semiconductor devices or related solid state devices. It may include, but is not limited to, the processing of diodes, zeners, stacks, rectifiers, integrated microcircuits, transistors, solar cells, light-sensing devices, and light-emitting devices.

(16) "Wafer" means a thin, usually round, slice of a material from which integrated circuits, or chips, are made.

(17) "Wafer Surface Area" means the entire surface area of one side of a wafer, or multiple wafers, and includes wafers that do not pass owner or operator inspection.

1. New section filed 12-14-2009; operative 1-1-2010 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4 (Register 2009, No. 51).

Note: Authority cited: Sections 38501, 38510, 38560, 38560.5, 38580, 39600 and 39601, Health and Safety Code. Reference: Sections 38501, 38505, 38510, 38550, 38551, 38560, 38560.5, 39600 and 39601, Health and Safety Code.

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