How should an electronics plant report fluorinated gases used in etching and chamber cleaning?
Count what is not destroyed. Gases such as CF4, C2F6, NF3 and SF6 are used in etch and clean steps; part reacts, part is broken down in abatement, and the rest escapes. IPCC 2006 gives default use and destruction rates, but purchase records and abatement data per tool give a far better figure.
The calculation
- Gas bought and drawn per tool, from purchase and cylinder records.
- Share used up in the process, from the tool or IPCC defaults.
- Share destroyed by point of use abatement, from tested efficiency.
- Remaining emissions x the gas's GWP.
Why it matters
These gases have global warming potentials thousands to tens of thousands of times CO2, so small leaks can rival a plant's electricity emissions.
Don't forget
- Heat transfer fluids and refrigerants.
- Nitrous oxide used in some deposition steps.
- By products formed in the process, such as CF4 from other gases.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads gas, refrigerant and electricity invoices into a dated, fingerprinted record, so the quantities behind each gas figure trace back to the documents.
Sources: IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 3 Industrial Processes, IPCC AR6 WG1, Chapter 7, Table 7.15 (GWP100), GHG Protocol Corporate Standard
Last reviewed 2026-10-21.