title: An Optimized Adsorbent Sampling Combined to Thermal Desorption GC-MS Method for Trimethylsilanol in Industrial Environments.
abstract: Trimethylsilanol (TMSOH) can cause damage to surfaces of scanner lenses in the semiconductor industry, and there is a critical need to measure and control airborne TMSOH concentrations. This study develops a thermal desorption (TD)-gas chromatography (GC)-mass spectrometry (MS) method for measuring trace-level TMSOH in occupational indoor air. Laboratory method optimization obtained best performance when using dual-bed tube configuration (100 mg of Tenax TA followed by 100 mg of Carboxen 569), n-decane as a solvent, and a TD temperature of 300°C. The optimized method demonstrated high recovery (87%), satisfactory precision (<15% for spiked amounts exceeding 1 ng), good linearity (R(2) = 0.9999), a wide dynamic mass range (up to 500 ng), low method detection limit (2.8 ng m(-3) for a 20-L sample), and negligible losses for 3-4-day storage. The field study showed performance comparable to that in laboratory and yielded first measurements of TMSOH, ranging from 1.02 to 27.30 μg/m(3), in the semiconductor industry. We suggested future development of real-time monitoring techniques for TMSOH and other siloxanes for better maintenance and control of scanner lens in semiconductor wafer manufacturing.
authors.affiliation: Headquarters of GemVax & KAEL Co., Ltd., 894 Tamnip-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-510, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jae Hwan
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Chunrong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: Yong Doo
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hong Hyun
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Tien Thang
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Pham
authors.forename: Young Seok
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Young Un
authors.initials: YU
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: Ike Woo
authors.initials: IW
authors.lastname: Lee