The rapid growth of the microelectronics industry has spawned environmental problems associated with the process gases used to prepare semiconductors. Historically, many of these problems have been ignored because relatively low volumes of gases are associated with semiconductor fabrication; however, the exceptionally high toxicity of these materials (e.g. arsine, phosphine, silane, etc.) can cause major problems, especially for small quantity hazardous waste generators. Large commercial users have built expensive facilities for handling these materials, but small quantity generators typically have vented to the atmosphere through their exhaust ductwork. This is particularly true during cylinder changes where the gas manifold is repeatedly purged into the ductwork of the facility with no other treatment.

A new family of novel vent gas scrubbers that will cost-effectively reduce toxic air emissions below the Threshold Limit Value (TLV) during cylinder changes is described. Called a vent gas scrubber (VGS), this device combines high capacity, high selectivity and very high capture-effectiveness. These properties permit the VGS to be extremely compact (ca. 125 ml), last a long time in use (several years or more) and to reduce emissions to well below the TLV for improved gas handling safety.