Trade News
Munich, 24 October 2011 – Linde Gases, a division of The Linde Group, today announced a new contract with Topsil, a leading Danish provider of silicon wafers for semiconductors. Linde will supply high purity specialty gases critical to the manufacture of Topsil's ultra-pure silicon wafers. Linde was selected as the preferred supplier as the company was able to offer a highly integrated end-to-end solution combining both specialty gas supply and specialty equipment installation. Implementation will be at Topsil's green-field plant at Copenhagen's new CleanTech Park and is expected to be completed by March 2012.
As part of the integrated solution, Linde will supply high purity argon and nitrogen which will be used to grow the silicon crystals in order to produce ultra-thin silicon wafers, plus electronic gases phosphine and diborane - essential to help create a silicon wafer free from any impurities. The purity of all these gases - and the prevention of contamination during storage and transportation to the point of manufacture - is critical for the production of an ultra-pure silicon crystal. Without this surety, costs of production can increase significantly as batches of expensive silicon can be rendered unusable.
"Crystalline silicon wafers are the backbone of the global microelectronics industry and Topsil's wafers play a prominent role in a wide variety of high power semiconductor applications including operation of clean energy sources such as wind turbines", said Steve Harrison, Head of Specialty Gases and Specialty Equipment, Linde. "Not only are we proud to support a customer involved at the cutting edge of clean technology, but this contract illustrates our long-standing expertise in specialty gases and our ability to provide a total solution ensuring quality and safety across the entire gas delivery process."
In addition to maintaining purity standards required for wafer production, a highly reliable gas piping system, along with other specialty gas equipment will be installed to mitigate any escape of gas – particularly of the phosphine and diborane as they are both toxic and ignitable gases. The installation will include over 1.6 kilometres of stainless steel piping for the transportation of the gases. Linde will also install an alarm system alerting Topsil technicians when gas supplies are running low, ensuring no unplanned production down time.
"We were looking for a reliable partner that would be able to support not just with the supply of specialty gases meeting our exacting purity requirements, but also with the complete design and installation of the central gas system. The comprehensiveness of Linde's proposal, along with their expertise and proven track record of competence and innovation in the specialty gas market made them a natural choice for us as a full-range partner" said Jens Lillegaard, Project Manager at Topsil.
The location of Topsil's new facility, Number One Silicon Road, was inaugurated by Denmark's minister of climate and energy, Lykke Friis, and is the first development to be built in Copenhagen's CleanTech Park. The innovative business estate is part of the Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster (CCC), which aims to create close cooperation between the companies, knowledge institutions and business incubation environments in the Greater Copenhagen Area. CCC's long term goal is to create a world leading cleantech cluster.
About The Linde Group
The Linde Gases Division, part of The Linde Group, is a leader in the international industrial and healthcare gases markets, providing compressed, bulk, specialty and medical gases, as well as chemicals to virtually all fields of industry globally. The company adds value to its customers' businesses through the provision of state-of-the-art application technology, process know-how, services and equipment.
The Linde Group is a world-leading gases and engineering company with around 49,100 employees working in more than 100 countries worldwide. In the 2010 financial year, it achieved sales of EUR 12.868 bn. The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards long-term profitable growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business with forward-looking products and services. Linde acts responsibly towards its shareholders, business partners, employees, society and the environment – in every one of its business areas, regions and locations across the globe. Linde is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development.
For more information, see The Linde Group online at http://www.linde.com
About HiQ®
The HiQ® specialty gases product range from Linde supplies high purity gases, gas mixtures, precision engineered equipment and gas distribution systems, and services and support, to a wide range of industries employing specialty gases applications. It encompasses, but is not limited to, REDLINE® specialty gases equipment, BASELINE® specialty gases regulators, SPECTRA-SEAL® calibration gas mixtures, ECOCYL® portable specialty gases solutions, SPECTRA fine chemical, high purity and VOC calibration gases, plus VERISEQ® pharmaceutical grade gases.
Further information:
Susan Brownlow Jess Burr |
|