Call to Action: SEMI F51 Revision Needs Your Input

Call to Action: SEMI F51 Revision Needs Your Input

By Laura Nguyen, SEMI HQ

SEMI F51, Guide for Elastomeric Sealing Technology, is overdue for its five-year review, and the Reapproval Ballot surfaced numerous comments that the industry agreed were significant enough to warrant a full revision. That effort is now underway as SEMI Draft Document 7458, and the Task Force needs input from across the supply chain — seal manufacturers, equipment suppliers, and fab operators alike.

Originally published in 2000 and last updated in 2015, SEMI F51 has become a foundational reference for choosing and evaluating elastomeric seals in semiconductor fabrication equipment. But today's advanced manufacturing processes are asking more of seals than ever — better chemical compatibility, longer service life under thermal cycling, and lower particle and outgassing contribution — across a much wider range of process environments than the original Guide anticipated. This revision is an opportunity to bring SEMI F51 up to date with where the industry operates today.

We need your input on where sealing performance matters most

To make sure the revised Guide reflects real-world priorities, the Task Force has put together the feedback matrix below, mapping common process applications:

• Wet Chemical Processing (wet etch, wafer clean, CMP, electroplating, and other liquid chemical exposure)
• Plasma / Vacuum Process Chambers (plasma etch, ashing, ALE, ALD, CVD, PVD, HDP, PECVD, and LPCVD)
• Thermal/Annealing/Epi (Atmospheric diffusion, RTP, annealing, epitaxy, and newer hydrogen / deuterium / D₂O-related thermal processes)
• Lithography/EUV Support (vacuum, contamination-sensitive, and low-outgassing sealing locations around lithography and EUV support systems)
• Specialty Gas Delivery (Gas panels, VMB/VMP, valve manifolds, regulators, purge systems, and gas distribution components)
• SubFAB Harsh Duty (dry pumps, exhaust forelines, abatement inlets/outlets, condensable byproduct exposure, corrosive exhaust, thermal cycling, and post-process chemistry exposure)
• SubFAB General Duty (support vacuum, pump utilities, facility interfaces, non-direct harsh exhaust service, and general service sealing locations)
• UPW/High Purity Liquid Distribution (UPW loops, DI water, filters, valves, regulators, fittings, and high purity chemical distribution where cleanliness and leachables dominate)

against the sealing characteristics:

• Chemical Compatibility
• Sealing Force Retention (Compression Set)
• Temperature Capability (Thermal Cycling)
• Plasma / Radical / Byproduct Resistance
• Seal Erosion / Etch Rate

 impurity concerns:

• Leachables / Extractables
• Metallic Contamination / Ash Content
• TOC / Organic Contamination
• Outgassing / AMC Contribution
• Gas / Moisture Permeation
• Particle Generation

 and other considerations:

• Dimensional Fit / Gland Compatibility
• Handling / Installation Sensitivity
• Packaging / Storage Cleanliness
• Material Traceability / Change Control

that SEMI F51 addresses:

If you work with elastomeric seals in any of these environments, we want to hear which properties matter most for your application — and whether anything is missing.

Please let us know which sealing characteristics, impurity concerns, and handling considerations should carry the most weight in the revised Guide — and flag anything you think is missing from the list. Your feedback will shape the technical content of Document 7458 before it advances to Letter Ballot.

Submit your feedback here.

The Task Force is also looking to hear from industry stakeholders, equipment suppliers, and fab operators with direct experience selecting or specifying elastomeric seals.

How to participate

• Review the current draft and feedback matrix and share your input with the SEMI F51 Revision Task Force.
• Join an upcoming Task Force meeting — open to all SEMI Standards Program Members.
• Contact Laura Nguyen at SEMI to get connected with the Task Force and receive meeting invitations.

The Task Force is targeting a first draft by SEMICON West — so now is the time to weigh in.

Get Involved

SEMI Standards development activities take place throughout the year in all major manufacturing regions. To get involved, join the SEMI International Standards Program at www.semi.org/standardsmembership. For more information, please visit our main Web site and current events page. If you have any questions regarding SEMI Standards activities, please contact your local SEMI Standards staff.