The more important consideration, is if you're a first time user of hydrogen, best educate yourself first.

Watch footage of the Hindenburg disaster.

There are far easier + safer ways to make a living, then working with any hydrogen based processing.

Hydrogen is an indispensable and versatile element in modern semiconductor manufacturing, playing a crucial, multifaceted role in the fabrication of integrated circuits. Its primary applications stem from its unique chemical and physical properties, including its small atomic size, high thermal conductivity, and its ability to act as a highly effective reducing agent.

Key Applications of Hydrogen in Semiconductor Manufacturing

Here's a breakdown of how hydrogen is utilized in the intricate process of chip making:

Epitaxial Growth: In epitaxy, a thin, single-crystal layer of a material is grown on a substrate. Hydrogen is widely used as a **carrier gas** to transport precursor chemicals, such as silicon-containing compounds, onto the wafer surface. It also helps in creating a clean and controlled environment within the reactor, which is essential for the growth of high-quality, defect-free epitaxial layers.

Deposition Processes: During the deposition of various thin films, including silicon nitride and polysilicon, hydrogen is used to control the reaction chemistry and the properties of the deposited film. It can influence factors like the film's stress, uniformity, and electrical characteristics.

Annealing: Annealing is a heat treatment process that alters the microstructure of a material to improve its properties. In semiconductor manufacturing, hydrogen is used in annealing to **passivate** defects at the interface between the silicon substrate and the silicon dioxide layer. This process, often called "forming gas anneal" (a mixture of hydrogen and nitrogen), is critical for reducing electron traps and enhancing the performance and reliability of transistors.

Wafer Cleaning: Before and between various processing steps, semiconductor wafers must be meticulously cleaned to remove any contaminants. Hydrogen is used in some advanced cleaning processes. For instance, high-temperature hydrogen annealing can effectively remove native oxide layers and other surface impurities, resulting in an atomically clean silicon surface.

Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography: In the cutting-edge field of EUV lithography, which is used to pattern the most advanced chips, hydrogen plays a vital role. It is used to create the plasma that generates the EUV light and also to protect the valuable optics within the EUV tools from contamination.

Hydrogen Consumption in the Semiconductor Industry

The semiconductor industry is a significant consumer of high-purity hydrogen. While precise global consumption figures can be proprietary and vary with fluctuations in chip demand and manufacturing technologies, industry estimates suggest that the global semiconductor industry consumes billions of cubic feet of hydrogen annually. A large fabrication plant (fab) can consume tens of millions of cubic feet of hydrogen per month.

The demand for hydrogen in this sector is projected to grow, driven by the increasing complexity of chips, the transition to more advanced manufacturing nodes, and the growing adoption of EUV lithography.

The Price of High-Purity Hydrogen

The cost of hydrogen for semiconductor manufacturing is not a simple, single figure; it is highly dependent on several factors:

Purity: The semiconductor industry requires exceptionally pure hydrogen, often referred to as "ultra-high purity" (UHP) grade, with purity levels of 99.999% or higher. This level of purity is necessary to prevent contamination that could lead to device defects. The purification process significantly adds to the cost.

Delivery Method: Hydrogen can be delivered in several ways, each with a different cost structure:
Cylinders and Tube Trailers: For smaller users, hydrogen is delivered in pressurized cylinders or larger tube trailers. This is generally the most expensive option on a per-unit basis.
Liquid Hydrogen Tankers: For larger consumption, liquid hydrogen can be transported in cryogenic tankers and stored on-site.
On-site Generation: For the largest fabs with substantial and continuous hydrogen demand, on-site generation through methods like electrolysis or steam methane reforming, coupled with purification, can be the most cost-effective solution in the long run.

Geographic Location: The price of hydrogen can also vary depending on the local cost of electricity (for electrolysis), natural gas (for steam methane reforming), and transportation logistics.

Given these variables, the average price of UHP hydrogen for the semiconductor industry can range from approximately $2 to $10 per hundred cubic feet (CCF), and in some cases, it can be even higher, especially for smaller quantities or in regions with higher production costs. For large-scale consumers with on-site generation, the effective cost can be at the lower end of this range.