Which semiconductor materials are harmful to people working in the industry?
most of them…. crystalline silicon metal prime wafers, (crystalline silica is not healthy to breathe…) metals like copper, tunsgten, gold, aluminum are toxic in large doses. dopants such as arsine, phosphine are highly highly toxic gases etch back materials whether liquid acids, or gaseous plasmas are dangerous. all of the cmp products are acidic or basic and contain oxidizers all of the cmp waste products contain contaminants that must be scrubbed such as copper ions even the deionized water used to rinse wafers in all wet processes is dangerous (it can leach minerals from your body). then of course there’s the ceramic packaging material… I suppose the healthiest material in the process is the purified air found in the fabs…
