Dow Corning has ramped up production capacity for hexachlorodisilane (HCDS). HCDS is a high-purity precursor that is critical for a multitude of advanced, thin-film deposition processes for memory and logic semiconductor chip fabrication.

"For decades, Dow Corning, and its majority owned Hemlock Semiconductor, have been the secure choice as supplier of high-quality specialty gas precursor materials, such as chlorosilanes, methylsilanes and most recently monosilane for the global semiconductor industry," said Ken Seibert, market development leader, Semiconductor Materials at Dow Corning. "Today we are applying that same tradition of know-how, expertise and experience in producing and handling hazardous materials, to ensure a reliable, high-purity supply of HCDS will meet the current and future needs of our customers around the world."

With this new high-volume capacity, Dow Corning said it can now meet or exceed the entire industry's HCDS demand.

"Building on our proven track record for the safe handling of monosilanes, Dow Corning has scrutinized the safety procedures and resources for its industry-leading HCDS product to minimize the risk to our employees, communities and customers, and to ensure we can deliver a consistently reliable supply worldwide," said Michael Telgenhoff, process engineering leader, Semiconductor Materials at Dow Corning.

A stable, moisture sensitive liquid with low volatility, HCDS enables a low-temperature alternative to using silane or dichlorosilane to deposit high-quality silicon oxide and silicon nitride thin films.