RELIABLE COMPUTER BRAINS

Integrated circuits – often informally referred to as chips – are not only indispensable in computers and cell phones: onboard automotive electronics, consumer electronics and household appliances also depend on them. The manufacturing of integrated circuits is one of the most complex processes known in the industry: in a series of coating, lithography, etching and doping steps, fine structures are created on the so-called wafer. Along with large quantities of inert gases, depending on the process, various high-purity reactive gases are also used here as etching and doping agents.