Document 6w4Epr93raXY4gRpEodyMM17m

FM approved exhaust duct for semiconductor (but also pharmaceutical,...) industry. Fluoropolymer coated stainless steel was born out of necessity in the early 1990's as semiconductor companies and their insurance underwriters were not seeing eye to eye on corrosive fume exhaust systems. Existing vent duct products were just not delivering the standard of performance that semiconductor cleanroom applications required and the safety that insurance companies demanded. Insurance companies were pushing for fire-approved FRP duct, despite its poor chemical resistance, because they would rather have that than have the fab burn down. Semiconductor companies understood the need to eliminate combustible materials from the fab, but they were still seeking greater chemical resistance. PVC offered somewhat better resistivity, but after several years the material would become embrittled. Insurance companies did not approve of PVC because of the burn characteristics and smoke generation. In need of a solution, one IBM semiconductor chip plant in Essex Junction, Vermont, set out to find a replacement that would be chemically resistant and make their insurance company happy. They fully understood that damage due to fire is one issue, but the additional cost for smoke damage is five times greater in a cleanroom setting. In that regard, both PVC and FRP were not acceptable given their various trade-offs between flame spread, smoke generation, and chemical resistance. No Flame + No Smoke = Fluoropolymer Coating On Stainless Steel Duct (cpsgrp.com) ATS_Reference_Guide_2017b_FXP_v11g.pdf (tis33.com) p34 More information on this case: Memory Loss (fmglobal.com) Trends in Major Incidents of Semiconductor-Related Industry in Taiwan Reactive chemicals and combustible materials have led to numerous losses in semiconductor industry in Taiwan. Fifty nine incidents were collected and analyzed on related information to provide the integrated overviews of such events in the past thirteen years. Various types of factories either in the upstream or downstream of semiconductor industry were reviewed to deduce which kind of plant is feasible to possesses the higher risk of occurrence. Different kinds of chemicals or processes were compared with each other to verify the causes which led to the higher or largest loss already happened. Accidental fires caused by silane or flammable vapors are the dominant types of incidents in the semiconductor plant in comparison to any other types of materials. Besides, explosions, release of hazardous chemicals, and injuries by hazardous or corrosive chemicals are the three kinds of most common incidents encountered. Fire spread from the common exhaust duct or relief header always resulted in the largest loss among the reported events. The most serious lesson learnt from these losses was about three hundred million US dollars. Trends in Major Incidents of Semiconductor-Related Industry in Taiwan (researchgate.net) Characteristics of Fire and Explosion in Semiconductor Fabrication Processes Characteristics of fire and explosion in semiconductor fabrication processes (wiley.com)