{"id":141123,"date":"2026-09-03T00:41:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T00:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/141123\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T00:41:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T00:41:12","slug":"kaist-tames-a-semiconductor-greenhouse-gas-6000-times-more-potent-than-co%e2%82%82-with-the-power-of-disorder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/141123\/","title":{"rendered":"KAIST tames a semiconductor greenhouse gas 6,000 times more potent than CO\u2082 with the \u2018power of disorder\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"KAIST<\/p>\n

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image:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Figure 1. Design and CF4 removal performance of an aluminate catalyst incorporating multiple evenly mixed metals for treating the semiconductor process gas CF4.<\/p>\n

view more\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Credit: KAIST<\/p>\n

Among the gases used in semiconductor manufacturing, tetrafluoromethane (CF\u2084) is a greenhouse gas over 6,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide. A KAIST research team has developed a technology that removes this gas with high efficiency while extending the usable lifetime of the catalyst that helps break it down by harnessing the \u2018power of disorder,\u2019 in which mixing multiple metal atoms together actually stabilizes the catalyst\u2019s structure.<\/p>\n

KAIST (President Chung Sik Bae) announced on September 3 that a research team led by Professor Minkee Choi from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, working in collaboration with researchers from Samsung Electronics, has developed a new catalyst capable of removing CF\u2084, a greenhouse gas used in processes such as the fabrication of fine semiconductor circuits with high efficiency over long periods of use.<\/p>\n

CF\u2084 is used in processes such as dry etching, in which unwanted portions of a semiconductor wafer are selectively removed to create fine circuit patterns. The problem lies in the CF\u2084 left over after use. Because its carbon and fluorine atoms are bound together extremely tightly, the gas does not easily decompose, and once released into the atmosphere, it can persist for roughly 50,000 years. Its impact on global warming is also more than 6,000 times greater than that of carbon dioxide.<\/p>\n

To prevent CF\u2084 from being released as is, semiconductor manufacturing sites currently decompose it at high temperatures using steam and a catalyst. A catalyst speeds up chemical reactions, much like those used to reduce pollutants in car exhaust.<\/p>\n

However, conventional catalysts have suffered from declining performance the longer they are used. This is because hydrogen fluoride (HF), generated as CF\u2084 decomposes, combines with moisture to create a highly corrosive environment, causing the catalyst\u2019s fine particles to aggregate or its structure to change. When small catalyst particles clump together into larger masses, the surface area in contact with the CF\u2084 to be treated shrinks, and performance declines accordingly.<\/p>\n

The research team solved this problem, paradoxically, by harnessing the \u2018power of disorder.\u2019<\/p>\n

Mixing multiple atom types creates a complex, disordered structure that resists phase changes and remains stable. \u00a0This process is called entropy stabilization. \u00a0In simple terms, it is a principle in which evenly mixing multiple kinds of atoms makes it difficult for a catalyst to clump together or change into another structure.<\/p>\n

Using this principle, the research team evenly incorporated multiple metals \u2014 aluminum (Al), zinc (Zn), gallium (Ga), nickel (Ni), and cobalt (Co) \u2014 into a single aluminate crystal structure. Aluminate is a material in which several metals are bonded around a basic framework of aluminum and oxygen. Through this approach, the team developed an \u2018entropy-stabilized aluminate (ESA) catalyst\u2019 that resists aggregation and structural deformation even under the harsh conditions of high temperature, moisture, and fluorine occurring together.<\/p>\n

The performance gap was clear. The new catalyst\u2019s intrinsic activity for decomposing CF\u2084 was approximately 2.3 times higher than that of a conventional alumina catalyst. Notably, in an accelerated test conducted at about 800\u00b0C for 150 hours, the CF\u2084 conversion of the conventional alumina catalyst dropped from 93% to 48%. The new catalyst, by contrast, maintained a high level, declining only from 98% to 92%. This demonstrated that the catalyst can remove CF\u2084 with high efficiency while sustaining its performance over extended periods.<\/p>\n

The researchers also revealed the decomposition mechanism of CF\u2084. \u00a0To do this, they used oxygen isotopes, which allow the movement of oxygen atoms to be tracked. In simple terms, this involves attaching a \u2018tag\u2019 to oxygen atoms so that where the oxygen comes from and where it moves to during the reaction can be traced.<\/p>\n

The results confirmed that the catalyst first uses the oxygen within its own structure to decompose CF\u2084, and that the reaction continues as surrounding steam replenishes the oxygen that has been depleted. In effect, the catalyst functions as a kind of \u2018oxygen refill system,\u2019 in which steam restores the oxygen the catalyst draws upon. Through this, the research team provided the world\u2019s first experimental confirmation of a CF\u2084 decomposition process that had previously only been proposed in theory.<\/p>\n

The significance of this research goes beyond developing a single catalyst that decomposes CF\u2084 effectively; it presents a new catalyst design strategy capable of achieving both high decomposition performance and a long service life at the same time. The approach is expected to be applicable to the future development of catalysts for treating a range of semiconductor process gases by varying the types and combinations of metals used.<\/p>\n

Professor Choi said, \u201cBy applying the principle that disorder in nature can actually make a structure more stable to catalyst design, we achieved both high CF\u2084 decomposition performance and long-term stability at the same time.\u201d He added, \u201cThis work is meaningful in that it presents a new materials design strategy that can be extended to catalysts for treating a range of semiconductor process gases by varying the types and combinations of metals used.\u201d<\/p>\n

The study was led by Dr. Seunghyuck Chi, a postdoctoral researcher in KAIST\u2019s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, who served as first author, with researchers from Samsung Electronics participating as co-authors. The findings were published in June in the international chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.<\/p>\n

Paper title: Entropy-Stabilized Aluminate Catalysts that Break the Activity\u2013Stability Tradeoff in CF\u2084 Hydrolysis, DOI: 10.1002\/anie.6752036<\/p>\n

This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (RS\u20102024\u201000333937 and RS\u20102024\u201000405261).<\/p>\n

Journal<\/p>\n

Angewandte Chemie International Edition<\/p>\n

Article Title<\/p>\n

Entropy-Stabilized Aluminate Catalysts that Break the Activity\u2013Stability Tradeoff in CF\u2084 Hydrolysis<\/p>\n

Article Publication Date<\/p>\n

3-Aug-2026<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"image:\u00a0 Figure 1. Design and CF4 removal performance of an aluminate catalyst incorporating multiple evenly mixed metals for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[127,276],"class_list":["post-141123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-samsung-electronics","tag-samsung","tag-samsung-electronics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}