Phosphorus safety precautions

Safety Precautions. Because the phosphorus esters used In our studies exhibit varying (and sometimes unknown) degrees of acute toxicity, we recommend observing strict laboratory safety precautions when handling these materials. 

The immediate concern about the presence of phosphine in doped oxide films was safety in handling these materials. The permissible exposure limit (PEL) set by OSHA is 0.3 ppm, and the concentration immediately dangerous to life and health (IDLH) is 200 ppm. All precautions must be taken when etching plasma PSG of BPSG wafers. A basket of twenty 3 inch wafers, 5000 angstroms thick, containing 5 wt. % phosphorus could release as much as 2500 ppm of phosphine or 12.5 times the IDLH. 

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