Semiconductor Equipment & Decontamination Services

BELFOR pioneered successful decontamination and recovery processes for technical equipment of all types, primarily following contamination events caused by fires, floods, water damage, chemical spills and more. This experience has made BELFOR one of the semiconductor industry’s most capable decontamination service providers.

With knowledgeable teams in the United States, Asia and Europe, BELFOR has the ability to provide semiconductor decontamination services globally.

In the U.S., decontamination services can be performed onsite as well as at one of BELFOR’s specially designed facilities in Fort Worth, Texas, or Austin, Texas. We are also skilled at safe transportation procedures to return the restored equipment as soon as possible following a crisis.

All semiconductor decontamination services are performed with the SEMI S12 - Environmental, Health and Safety Guideline for Manufacturing Equipment Decontamination in mind. BELFOR was instrumental in serving as co-author for the latest version of this guideline.

What Semiconductor Equipment Services Are Available?

BELFOR can provide parts decontamination, single tool decontamination, and full wafer fab decommissioning, including assessment and/or decontamination of all equipment and tools. Typically, the range of decontamination process services can include:

• Equipment contamination assessment
• De-installation of all tools and equipment
• Equipment decontamination
• Rigging of equipment from within the cleanroom
• Rigging, crating and transportation of equipment
• Field equipment cleaning and decontamination
• Full facility decontamination to restore 4-wall configuration or partial decontamination as requested.

BELFOR has specific experience in the decontamination of both “front-end” and “back-end” semiconductor equipment. Using various techniques such as gas detection and surface wipe sample analysis, BELFOR can identify the contamination source and perform decontamination processes to remove hazardous contaminants from equipment and tools.

For nearly 20 years, BELFOR has been a major provider of semiconductor parts and tool decontamination services for two industry leading OEMS.

We have carried out a wide range of semiconductor equipment decontamination projects, as well as numerous major semiconductor fabrication plant full decontamination projects around the world. Some of our specific equipment experience includes, but is not limited to:

• Chemical Mechanical Planar (CMP) systems
• Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD, Inc., PECVD & SACVD) systems
• Furnaces (Nitride, Poly, Oxide)
• Gas Control Panels
• Metrology Systems
• Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) systems
• Spin/Rinse Dryers
• Steppers
• Wafer Packaging systems
• Common utilities and support systems

BELFOR can assess and begin decontamination procedures of the semiconductor equipment prior to relocation, and provide documentation that declares the status of the equipment to freight forwarders, transportation regulatory authorities, and to the party receiving the equipment.

Semiconductor Facility Decontamination and Decommissioning

Facility decontamination and decommissioning services are also available through the BELFOR Environmental division. BELFOR Environmental provides several services specific to the semiconductor industry, including facility decontamination, process systems removal, complete demolition, in-plant maintenance services and final clearance reporting for real estate transactions.

BELFOR Environmental has performed fab decontamination, decommissioning and demolition projects for prominent and large fabs on the East Coast, Texas, West Coast and Asia. We provide characterization of the facility and any repair or remediation needed to bring the property to marketable condition.

It is important to have a contractor that has a track record of operating safely and compliantly within the semiconductor industry, secured to perform your scope of work. All decommissioning, and dismantling work is done in accordance with all safety rules and regulations.

Parts Harvesting

BELFOR will help clients take entire tools or sub-assemblies and remove critical components for their own reuse. 

Reclamation and Recycling

BELFOR can assist clients with the recovery of precious and non-precious metals as a byproduct of their operations. Gold, silver, platinum, palladium, rhodium, and more plus iron, aluminum, brass and more on the non-precious side.

Consignment Services

Through various partnerships and our position in the industry, BELFOR can manage assets for the client in return for consigning used material for resale on their behalf. 

Destruction Services

BELFOR can also take antiquated or unwanted material and destroy it so that none of the intrinsic value remains. BELFOR typically would handle High IP (intellectual property) material which requires more rigorous control measures and Low IP material that is handled in bulk runs with less stringent control measures. This material cannot reach secondary markets. BELFOR ensures it cannot be reverse engineered or used in production again.

For more information about our decontamination and semiconductor equipment services, contact us or call our emergency 24-hour hotline at 800-856-3333.