4 ms·

I know this might break the rules a little but can we all just agree on one thing: Chip Making technology is fucking cool.

• sillywalk 3y ago
  Apparently chip-making uses (or used?) Chlorine trifluoride - the stuff that can set asbestos or sand on fire - to clean chemical vapour deposition chambers.
  • Ygg2 3y ago
    It sets ashes on fire. The only way to stop ClF3 fire is to wait it out. Shit is just unstoppable. Reminds me of FOOF. In a bad way.
    • dtx1 3y ago
      https://interestingengineering.com/science/chlorine-trifluoride-set-fire-glass https://interestingengineering.com/science/chlorine-trifluor... > ”is, of course, extremely toxic, but that’s the least of the problem. It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water-with which it reacts explosively." He continues, "It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals-steel, copper, aluminum, etc.-because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride which protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminum keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.”
      • ChrisMarshallNY 3y ago
        I don't have the link, but Derek Lowe did a great In The Pipeline on this stuff.
        • scrlk 3y ago
          https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/sand-won-t-save-you-time https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/sand-won-t-save-yo... All posts under the "Things I Won't Work With" series: https://www.science.org/topic/blog-category/things-i-wont-work-with https://www.science.org/topic/blog-category/things-i-wont-wo...
          • ChrisMarshallNY 3y ago
            Thanks! I was on my phone, and realized I hadn’t bookmarked it. I like all the stuff he did in that series, so the second link is great!
            • ChrisMarshallNY 3y ago
              Just FYI, for some reason, the embedded video in this post[0] does not work. Here it is on YouTube[1]. [0] https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/chlorine-trifluoride-some-empirical-findings https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/chlorine-trifluori... [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4l56AfUTnQ&t=1s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4l56AfUTnQ&t=1s
            • ChrisMarshallNY 3y ago
              And I enjoyed this one, almost as much as the OP: https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/things-i-won-t-work-dioxygen-difluoride https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/things-i-won-t-wor... This is my favorite quote: > And that's at room temperature. At seven hundred freaking degrees, fluorine starts to dissociate into monoatomic radicals, thereby losing its gentle and forgiving nature.
    • quickthrower2 3y ago
      The fire diamond on Wikipedia says 4 0 4 or: deadly, explosive, NOT flammable. Weird stuff!
      • Ygg2 3y ago
        It's not flammable. Check the white part (OX ~W~). It's an oxidizer (that reacts with water). It's same with pure oxygen. Oxygen is not flammable. It's not a fuel source. For example a pure hydrogen can be kept in bottle indefinitely. But if you put something even a bit reactive - like rusted piece of iron, in pure O2 it will burn like a candle. ClF3 makes pure O2 look like water. I.e. whatever you put in, chances are it's going to burn and make HF/HCl as byproduct. Good luck.
        • quickthrower2 3y ago
          Yeah I said not flammable (sorry in all caps, which may have looked like an acronym). That is what makes it interesting. It sounds like "oxygen on steroids" might be a way to describe it. I wonder... can it burn oxygen (with oxygen being the "fuel")?
          • Ygg2 3y ago
            Not as such it seems, neither have an electron they can donate. In fact under normal conditions ClF3 will dissociated into ClF + F2, also strong oxidizers on their own. Maybe under special conditions they would react, but it seems they aren't able to rip each others electrons.
• mk_stjames 3y ago
  That SEM cross section image is downright beautiful, IMO.
• steve76 3y ago
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