Environmental and health risk analysis of nitrogen trifluoride (NF(3)), a toxic and potent greenhouse gas

Abstract

This article aimed at the introduction of nitrogen trifluoride (NF(3)) and its decomposition products into its hazards to the environment and health because this perfluorocompound is a toxic and potent greenhouse gas not blanketed into the Kyoto Protocol. This paper also predicted the global NF(3) emissions from the electronics industry on the basis of the methodologies recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and further discussed its atmospheric implications according to the estimation of environmental fate for NF(3). It showed that the vaporization of NF(3) from the water bodies to the atmosphere is very high according to its predicted value (ca. 6.0 x 10(5)MPa) of Henry's law constant (K(H)). Furthermore, NF(3) emitted from the electronics industry around the world in 2006 was estimated to be between 3.6 and 56 metric tonnes and it will be on increasing trend in the near future. Although the accumulative amount of NF(3) in the atmosphere currently should be very negligible based on the predicted ratio (the order of 10(-6) to 10(-7)) of equivalent CO(2) emission from NF(3) to total equivalent CO(2) emissions from potent greenhouse gases, it is necessary to adopt the available abatement and also monitor the concentration of NF(3) in the workplaces for reducing the overall environmental and health impacts of various semiconductor processes.