An inlet assembly for a an abatement burner includes: an inlet conduit operable to convey an effluent gas stream to be treated from an inlet aperture via a bore to an outlet aperture for treatment; and a lance conduit operable to convey a fuel gas from a gas inlet aperture via a gas bore to a gas outlet aperture positioned within the bore for mixing with the effluent gas stream, a cross-sectional area of the gas bore increasing towards the gas outlet aperture. In this way, the expansion caused by the increasing cross-sectional area of the gas bore enhances the mixing of the fuel gas with the effluent gas stream which provides for improved destruction and removal efficiencies (DRE), which enables the inlet assembly to be operated with reduced quantities of fuel gas, while still maintaining required levels of DRE.

An apparatus for the destruction of a precursor material includes a steam plasma reactor having a high temperature zone and a combustion zone. The high temperature zone is adapted for hydrolyzing the precursor material, whereas the combustion zone is adapted to effect medium temperature oxidation of the reactant stream where combustion oxygen or air is injected. A quenching unit is provided at an exit end of the reactor for quenching a resulting gas stream to avoid the formation of unwanted by-products.

A nozzle for an abatement apparatus and a method are disclosed. The nozzle is for abatement apparatus operable to treat an effluent stream from a processing tool, the nozzle comprises: a nozzle body defining a nozzle inlet operable to receive the effluent stream, a nozzle outlet, and a conduit extending between the nozzle inlet and the nozzle outlet and operable to convey the effluent stream in a direction of flow from the nozzle inlet to the nozzle outlet; and an effluent stream rotator configured to impart a rotational component to the effluent stream to rotate the effluent stream around the direction of flow. In this way, the effluent stream is rotated as it passes through the nozzle body. The destruction rate efficiency achieved by an abatement apparatus when receiving such rotating effluent streams has been found to be significantly improved compared to non-rotating effluent streams.

The present invention provides an energy-efficient method and apparatus that can achieve exhaust gas abatement with a minimum use of diluent nitrogen gas. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for exhaust gas abatement under reduced pressure, in which an exhaust gas supplied from an exhaust gas source through a vacuum pump is decomposed by combustion heat of a flame under a reduced pressure.

Processes for producing polycrystalline silicon by thermal decomposition of silane are disclosed. The processes generally involve thermal decomposition of silane in a fluidized bed reactor operated at reaction conditions that result in a high rate of productivity relative to conventional production processes.

A wet abatement system which can suppress the accumulation of foreign matters in a treatment gas line is proposed. There is provided a wet abatement system for detoxifying treatment gas by bringing the treatment gas into contact with liquid. The wet abatement system includes an inlet casing having an inlet port from which the treatment gas is let in and an outlet port provided below the inlet port and through which the treatment gas flows, and a liquid film forming device provided between the inlet port and the outlet port and configured to form a liquid film on an inner wall surface of the inlet casing. A heater configured to heat the inlet casing is embedded in an interior of a wall portion of the inlet casing, the wall portion constituting a portion situated above the liquid film forming device.

A method of cooling an abatement apparatus for abatement of an effluent stream from a semiconductor processing tool includes: providing at least one modular cooling assembly having a cooling capacity; determining a cooling requirement of an abatement apparatus; and incorporating into the abatement apparatus a number of the modular cooling assemblies whose cumulative cooling capacity at least matches the cooling requirement of the abatement apparatus. In this way, multiple modular cooling assemblies may be incorporated into the abatement apparatus, each of which provides cooling capacity. The number of modular cooling assemblies can be selected to suit the cooling requirement of the abatement apparatus.

A method of fabricating a burner element for an abatement apparatus is disclosed. The method comprises: injection moulding a charge comprising metal particles and a flow compound into a mould defining the burner element to produce a moulded burner element; and sintering the moulded burner element. In this way, injection moulding is used to produce the burner element, which provides far more flexibility regarding the design and properties of the burner element and avoids the necessity of incorporating a perforated support into the burner element. This allows burner elements of more intricate design to be produced, as well as burner elements which are thinner than those produced using existing techniques, which increases the volume of a combustion chamber defined by that burner element for any external burner element size, which in turn increases the amount of effluent gas that can be treated for any burner size.

A burner head that constitutes a combustion chamber for an exhaust gas processing apparatus by being attached to an upper portion of a combustion chamber main body is provided. The burner head includes a chassis which has a cylindrical portion having a lower opening and in which a fastening module for removably fastening to the combustion chamber main body is provided, a fuel nozzle that blows fuel into the cylindrical portion, a combustion supporting gas nozzle that blows combustion supporting gas into the cylindrical portion, a processing gas nozzle that blows processing gas into the cylindrical portion, and a pilot burner that ignites the fuel and/or the combustion supporting gas.

A method of cleaning a gas inlet nozzle of an abatement burner combustion chamber. The abatement burner intermittently receives gas for combustion from a feed process. The nozzle comprises a cleaning mechanism including a movable cleaning member for physically removing unwanted deposits from the nozzle. The cleaning member is movable from a retracted first position wherein the cleaning member is outside a path of a flame associated with the nozzle, to a second cleaning position wherein the cleaning member is in a path of the flame associated with the nozzle. The method comprises the steps of: a. identifying when the nozzle is out of use; b. moving the cleaning member from the first position to the second position while the nozzle is out of use; and c. returning the cleaning member to the first position before nozzle is in use.