Researchers at the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) discuss in front of the high-purity deuterated ammonia production process facility they developed for the first time in Korea. Courtesy of KIER
South Korea has succeeded for the first time in domestically producing deuterated ammonia, a material that suppresses defects inside semiconductor devices. By achieving a purity of 99% or higher using a proprietary catalyst, the country has laid the groundwork to break away from dependence on imports from Japan and China.
The Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) announced on the 11th that a research team led by Principal Researcher Hyungchul Yoon at the Climate Change Research Division’s Clean Fuel Research Laboratory has developed Korea’s first technology for producing high-purity deuterated ammonia.
Deuterated ammonia (ND₃) is a substance in which the hydrogen (H) in ordinary ammonia (NH₃) is replaced with deuterium (D), an isotope of hydrogen. When applied to semiconductor manufacturing processes, it can suppress defects inside devices, and demand for it has been steadily increasing.
Because there have been no domestic production technologies or facilities, South Korea has relied almost entirely on imports from overseas, including Japan and China. As supply stability and price competitiveness have been weak, calls for localization have been continuous.
The research team succeeded in producing 7.7 kg of deuterated ammonia per day by applying a homegrown ruthenium-based catalyst. With the new catalyst, the reaction pressure is reduced to about one-fifth that of conventional synthesis methods, and the reaction temperature conditions are also improved, making it possible to synthesize deuterated ammonia with a purity of 99% or higher.
The key lies in the design that mixes barium oxide into the ruthenium catalyst. Barium oxide increases the electron density on the ruthenium surface and weakens the bonding strength of the adsorbed nitrogen molecules. As a result, the nitrogen dissociation reaction—the step that consumes the most energy in ammonia synthesis—can proceed at much lower temperature and pressure than before.
The research team verified the durability of the developed process by operating it continuously for more than 1,000 hours and obtained certification from the Korea Testing Laboratory (KTL). They also confirmed that no impurities affecting semiconductor performance are generated during the process, allowing stable production of ultra-high-purity products.
Based on this achievement, the team plans to optimize the process and scale up production to fully enter the isotope materials market for the semiconductor, display, and fine chemical industries. They expect that building a domestic production base will reduce import dependence and make it possible to target the global specialty gas market.
Principal Researcher Hyungchul Yoon said, “This work is significant in that it demonstrates the potential to produce high value-added isotope materials for semiconductor processes using domestically developed ammonia synthesis technology,” adding, “We will expand this into a small-scale high-performance chemical materials production platform for the semiconductor, display, and precision analysis industries, based on our low-pressure, low-temperature process technology and long-term stable operation experience.”
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