With the continuous progress of the information age, semiconductors and other electronic industries are becoming more and more important. Among them, electronic gases are supporting raw materials for the electronic industry, and their quality determines the performance of electronic products. Germane is an important raw material gas for the electronic industry. It is an important raw material for the manufacture of high-purity germanium and various silicon-germanium alloys. At the same time, due to its dangerous gas properties, gas supply and use must be achieved through special gas systems.

What is germane?

Germane (GeH4) is a colorless, highly toxic, self-igniting, non-corrosive gas. Regarding the gas properties of germane, it has poor thermal stability and will decompose into germanium and hydrogen at higher temperatures (about 280°C); it has strong self-catalytic properties and is prone to decomposition and explosion, which is very dangerous!

Use of Germane

Germane (GeH4) is an important raw material for the manufacture of high-purity germanium and various silicon-germanium alloys, mainly used in semiconductors, photovoltaic solar energy and integrated circuit industries. For example, in the MOCVD (metal organic chemical vapor deposition) process, germane (GeH4) is often used with silane as a gas raw material through the delivery of the special gas system to generate silicon-germanium thin films.

In the manufacture of semiconductor integrated circuit electronic devices, germane is used as a precursor gas for silicon-germanium (Si-Ge) films and participates in the manufacture. For example, in heterojunction diode transistors (HBTs), a thin silicon germanium layer is grown on a silicon wafer as the substrate of the diode transistor. Compared with traditional silicon diode transistors, silicon-germanium HBTs have obvious advantages in speed, response frequency and gain. Its speed and frequency response can be compared with the more expensive gallium-arsenic HBT.

The role of the germane special gas system

As commonly used electronic gases in the semiconductor industry, most of them are dangerous gases, such as silane and germane. If these special gases use ordinary gas supply systems, they will be very dangerous, easily lead to accidents, and threaten the safety of production personnel. Therefore, it is necessary to use a gas supply system with higher safety requirements, that is, an electronic special gas system.

The germane gas system consists of a germane gas cabinet, a gas valve distribution box VMB, corrosion-resistant 316L stainless steel pipelines and a gas leakage monitoring and alarm system. Its main function is to protect the purity and safety of the gas, provide stable gas pressure and uninterrupted gas supply.

The above is a brief introduction to germane and the germane gas system. In addition, germanium is widely used in infrared optics, optical fiber, catalysts, medicine, food and other fields, and germane is one of the important sources of high-purity elemental germanium.