The present invention discloses a CVD apparatus which, together with being able to efficiently perform purging treatment after maintenance, uses for the purge gas a mixed gas of a gas having high thermal conductivity and an inert gas during heated flow purging treatment after maintenance to perform startup of the CVD apparatus while reducing the amount of time required for purging treatment. Purging treatment before semiconductor film formation is performed by repeating the pumping of a vacuum and the introduction of inert gas a plurality of times. In addition, in order to judge suitable maintenance times of semiconductor production apparatuses that perform corrosive gas treatment in a reaction chamber, the moisture concentration in reaction chamber is measured with moisture meter connected to the reaction chamber when performing the corrosive gas treatment, and maintenance times of the semiconductor production apparatus are determined according to changes in the moisture concentration when corrosive gas treatment is performed repeatedly. In addition, in order to measure the moisture of corrosive gas during processing while preventing obstruction of piping in a moisture monitoring apparatus and semiconductor production apparatus equipped therewith, a moisture monitoring apparatus, which is equipped with a pipe, of which one end is connected to reaction chamber into which corrosive gas flows, and a moisture meter connected to the other end of that pipe which measures the moisture contained in the corrosive gas introduced from the reaction chamber, is at least equipped with pipe heating mechanism that heats the pipe.

A semiconductor manufacturing system includes a getter-based gas purifier coupled in flow communication with a gas distribution network for a semiconductor fabrication facility. The gas distribution network supplies purified gas to at least one wafer processing chamber in the semiconductor fabrication facility. The gas purifier includes a getter column having a metallic vessel with an inlet, an outlet, and a containment wall extending between the inlet and the outlet. Getter material which purifies gas flowing therethrough by sorbing impurities therefrom is disposed in the vessel. A first temperature sensor is disposed in a top portion of the getter material. The first temperature sensor is located in a melt zone to detect rapidly the onset of an exothermic reaction which indicates the presence of excess impurities in the incoming gas to be purified. A second temperature sensor is disposed in a bottom portion of the getter material. The second temperature sensor is located in a melt zone to detect rapidly the onset of an exothermic reaction which indicates that excess impurities are being backfed into the getter column. First and second high melting point, nonmetallic liners are disposed in the vessel such that at least some of the top and bottom portions, respectively, of the getter material is separated from the containment wall of the vessel. A getter-based gas purifier, a method of making an integrated circuit device, and a method of protecting a getter column are also described.

A semiconductor manufacturing system includes a getter-based gas purifier coupled in flow communication with a gas distribution network for a semiconductor fabrication facility. The gas distribution network supplies purified gas to at least one wafer processing chamber in the semiconductor fabrication facility. The gas purifier includes a getter column having a metallic vessel with an inlet, an outlet, and a containment wall extending between the inlet and the outlet. Getter material which purifies gas flowing therethrough by sorbing impurities therefrom is disposed in the vessel. A first temperature sensor is disposed in a top portion of the getter material. The first temperature sensor is located in a melt zone to detect rapidly the onset of an exothermic reaction which indicates the presence of excess impurities in the incoming gas to be purified. A second temperature sensor is disposed in a bottom portion of the getter material. The second temperature sensor is located in a melt zone to detect rapidly the onset of an exothermic reaction which indicates that excess impurities are being backfed into the getter column. First and second high melting point, nonmetallic liners are disposed in the vessel such that at least some of the top and bottom portions, respectively, of the getter material is separated from the containment wall of the vessel. A getter-based gas purifier, a method of making an integrated circuit device, and a method of protecting a getter column are also described.

A gas purification system includes a gas purification unit and one or more safety devices. The gas purification unit includes an enclosure containing a purification material that exhibits an exothermic reaction when exposed to certain gas contaminants. The gas purification unit also has an inlet coupled to an unpurified gas inlet line and an outlet coupled to a purified gas outlet line. A safety device can be coupled either to the unpurified gas input line or the purified output line, or both, and develops an alarm signal when gas contaminants exceed a given concentration level for a period of time.

A semiconductor manufacturing system includes a getter-based gas purifier coupled in flow communication with a gas distribution network for a semiconductor fabrication facility. The gas distribution network supplies purified gas to at least one wafer processing chamber in the semiconductor fabrication facility. The gas purifier includes a getter column having a metallic vessel with an inlet, an outlet, and a containment wall extending between the inlet and the outlet. Getter material which purifies gas flowing therethrough by sorbing impurities therefrom is disposed in the vessel. A first temperature sensor is disposed in a top portion of the getter material. The first temperature sensor is located in a melt zone to detect rapidly the onset of an exothermic reaction which indicates the presence of excess impurities in the incoming gas to be purified. A second temperature sensor is disposed in a bottom portion of the getter material. The second temperature sensor is located in a melt zone to detect rapidly the onset of an exothermic reaction which indicates that excess impurities are being backfed into the getter column. First and second high melting point, nonmetallic liners are disposed in the vessel such that at least some of the top and bottom portions, respectively, of the getter material is separated from the containment wall of the vessel. A getter-based gas purifier, a method of making an integrated circuit device, and a method of protecting a getter column are also described.