Process and system for separation and recovery of perfluorocompound gases
First Claim
1. A semiconductor manufacturing system comprising:
- a) at least one reactor chamber adapted to receive perfluorocompound gases and carrier gases, the reactor chamber having a reactor effluent gas conduit attached thereto;
b) at least one glassy polymer membrane separation unit having a feed side and a permeate side, said membrane being permeable to at least one carrier gas and being substantially non-permeable to at least one perfluorocompound gas, said membrane unit connected to said reactor chamber via the reactor effluent conduit, said membrane unit having a permeate vent conduit and a non-permeate conduit; and
c) means to recycle at least a portion of a non-permeate stream from said membrane unit through said non-permeate conduit back to the at least one reactor chamber.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Processes and systems to recover at least one perfluorocompound gas from a gas mixture are provided. In one embodiment the inventive process comprises the steps of a) providing a gas mixture comprising at least one perfluorocompound gas and at least one carrier gas, the gas mixture being at a predetermined pressure; b) providing at least one glassy polymer membrane having a feed side and a permeate side; c) contacting the feed side of the at least one membrane with the gas mixture; d) withdrawing from the feed side of the membrane as a non-permeate stream at a pressure which is substantially equal to the predetermined pressure a concentrated gas mixture comprising essentially the at least one perfluorocompound gas; and e) withdrawing from the permeate side of the membrane as a permeate stream a depleted gas mixture comprising essentially the at least one carrier gas.
115 Citations
7 Claims
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1. A semiconductor manufacturing system comprising:
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a) at least one reactor chamber adapted to receive perfluorocompound gases and carrier gases, the reactor chamber having a reactor effluent gas conduit attached thereto; b) at least one glassy polymer membrane separation unit having a feed side and a permeate side, said membrane being permeable to at least one carrier gas and being substantially non-permeable to at least one perfluorocompound gas, said membrane unit connected to said reactor chamber via the reactor effluent conduit, said membrane unit having a permeate vent conduit and a non-permeate conduit; and c) means to recycle at least a portion of a non-permeate stream from said membrane unit through said non-permeate conduit back to the at least one reactor chamber. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A semiconductor manufacturing system comprising:
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a) at least one reactor chamber adapted to receive perfluorocompound gases and carrier gases, the reactor chamber having a reactor effluent gas conduit attached thereto; b) compression means located in the reactor effluent conduit to compress an effluent gas from the reactor chamber; c) at least one glassy polymer membrane separation unit having a feed side and a permeate side, said membrane being permeable to at least one carrier gas and being substantially non-permeable to at least one perfluorocompound gas, said membrane unit connected to said reactor chamber via the reactor effluent conduit downstream of the compression means, said membrane unit having a permeate vent conduit and a non-permeate conduit; d) means to recycle at least a portion of a non-permeate stream from said membrane unit back to the at least one reactor chamber; e) pretreatment means positioned in the reactor effluent gas conduit said pretreatment means selected from the group consisting of plasma decomposition, thermal decomposition, catalytic removal, scrubbing, and adsorption; f) the membrane unit comprising a sweep gas conduit connecting the non-permeate conduit and the permeate side of the membrane; g) a damper or surge tank positioned in the non-permeate conduit; and h) a compressor, heat exchanger, cryogenic pump or vacuum pump positioned in the non-permeate conduit upstream of the surge tank, allowing a perfluorocarbon enriched stream to be stored in liquid form for future use if so desired.
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Specification