• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Supply Cut of Noble Gases from Russia Could Hit Chip Production

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 9, 2007
Messages
47,300 (7.53/day)
Location
Hyderabad, India
System Name RBMK-1000
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory 2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
Video Card(s) Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock
Storage Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s) BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s) ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard Gamdias Hermes E2
Software Windows 11 Pro
It turns out that Russia was a major supplier of, among many other things, industrial-grade noble gases, which are vital for semiconductor production. Earlier this month, the Russian government announced that it is cutting supply of noble gases to "unfriendly countries" (countries in the US sphere of influence), unless they pay for the merchandise in Russian Rubles, by creating remittance accounts in Russian banks (similar to how it wants these countries to pay for crude oil and natural gas).

Russia and Ukraine were leading global suppliers of industrial noble gases, together making up a third of the noble gas consumed by the semiconductor industry. Much of the heavy industry in Ukraine is either out of service, or committed to the war effort, which lets Russia dictate terms for its supply. Argon, xenon, helium, and neon are the most sought after noble gases in the semiconductor industry. In addition to the inert environment, mixtures of these gases are required by the lasers that perform lithography (etching microscopic circuits on silicon wafer).



View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source
 

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 9, 2007
Messages
47,300 (7.53/day)
Location
Hyderabad, India
System Name RBMK-1000
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory 2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
Video Card(s) Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock
Storage Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s) BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s) ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard Gamdias Hermes E2
Software Windows 11 Pro
No poop-tomatina, amigos.
 
Joined
Apr 1, 2017
Messages
420 (0.15/day)
System Name The Cum Blaster
Processor R9 5900x
Motherboard Gigabyte X470 Aorus Gaming 7 Wifi
Cooling Alphacool Eisbaer LT360
Memory 4x8GB Crucial Ballistix @ 3800C16
Video Card(s) 7900 XTX Nitro+
Storage Lots
Display(s) 4k60hz, 4k144hz
Case Obsidian 750D Airflow Edition
Power Supply EVGA SuperNOVA G3 750W
Joined
Jan 3, 2021
Messages
3,606 (2.49/day)
Location
Slovenia
Processor i5-6600K
Motherboard Asus Z170A
Cooling some cheap Cooler Master Hyper 103 or similar
Memory 16GB DDR4-2400
Video Card(s) IGP
Storage Samsung 850 EVO 250GB
Display(s) 2x Oldell 24" 1920x1200
Case Bitfenix Nova white windowless non-mesh
Audio Device(s) E-mu 1212m PCI
Power Supply Seasonic G-360
Mouse Logitech Marble trackball, never had a mouse
Keyboard Key Tronic KT2000, no Win key because 1994
Software Oldwin
No poop-tomatina, amigos.
That's going to be hard ...

Is neon and other noble gases actually consumed in lasers and other equipment? Seems unlikely as they're chemically inert. More probably they are either lost in the environment or get contaminated, so with some effort, a larger percentage could be recovered.
 
Joined
Mar 28, 2020
Messages
1,761 (1.02/day)
This was already a known problem. The reason we don’t see an immediate effect is because there should stockpile that can cushion some of the disruption. The issue will surface as more fabs start to come online and require these noble gases for lasers and such. So this will eventually throw a wrench into all the fab expansion plans.
 
Joined
Aug 20, 2007
Messages
21,541 (3.40/day)
System Name Pioneer
Processor Ryzen R9 9950X
Motherboard GIGABYTE Aorus Elite X670 AX
Cooling Noctua NH-D15 + A whole lotta Sunon and Corsair Maglev blower fans...
Memory 64GB (4x 16GB) G.Skill Flare X5 @ DDR5-6000 CL30
Video Card(s) XFX RX 7900 XTX Speedster Merc 310
Storage Intel 905p Optane 960GB boot, +2x Crucial P5 Plus 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs
Display(s) 55" LG 55" B9 OLED 4K Display
Case Thermaltake Core X31
Audio Device(s) TOSLINK->Schiit Modi MB->Asgard 2 DAC Amp->AKG Pro K712 Headphones or HDMI->B9 OLED
Power Supply FSP Hydro Ti Pro 850W
Mouse Logitech G305 Lightspeed Wireless
Keyboard WASD Code v3 with Cherry Green keyswitches + PBT DS keycaps
Software Gentoo Linux x64 / Windows 11 Enterprise IoT 2024
No poop-tomatina, amigos.
You posted this, too late now.

This was already a known problem. The reason we don’t see an immediate effect is because there should stockpile that can cushion some of the disruption. The issue will surface as more fabs start to come online and require these noble gases for lasers and such. So this will eventually throw a wrench into all the fab expansion plans.
This, basically.
 
Joined
Feb 20, 2020
Messages
9,340 (5.28/day)
Location
Louisiana
System Name Ghetto Rigs z490|x99|Acer 17 Nitro 7840hs/ 5600c40-2x16/ 4060/ 1tb acer stock m.2/ 4tb sn850x
Processor 10900k w/Optimus Foundation | 5930k w/Black Noctua D15
Motherboard z490 Maximus XII Apex | x99 Sabertooth
Cooling oCool D5 res-combo/280 GTX/ Optimus Foundation/ gpu water block | Blk D15
Memory Trident-Z Royal 4000c16 2x16gb | Trident-Z 3200c14 4x8gb
Video Card(s) Titan Xp-water | evga 980ti gaming-w/ air
Storage 970evo+500gb & sn850x 4tb | 860 pro 256gb | Acer m.2 1tb/ sn850x 4tb| Many2.5" sata's ssd 3.5hdd's
Display(s) 1-AOC G2460PG 24"G-Sync 144Hz/ 2nd 1-ASUS VG248QE 24"/ 3rd LG 43" series
Case D450 | Cherry Entertainment center on Test bench
Audio Device(s) Built in Realtek x2 with 2-Insignia 2.0 sound bars & 1-LG sound bar
Power Supply EVGA 1000P2 with APC AX1500 | 850P2 with CyberPower-GX1325U
Mouse Redragon 901 Perdition x3
Keyboard G710+x3
Software Win-7 pro x3 and win-10 & 11pro x3
Benchmark Scores Are in the benchmark section
Hi,
Russia doing what Russia wants to do seems the only issue atm.
Don't believe Russian oil has ever stopped flowing either.
 
Joined
Jul 16, 2014
Messages
8,219 (2.16/day)
Location
SE Michigan
System Name Dumbass
Processor AMD Ryzen 7800X3D
Motherboard ASUS TUF gaming B650
Cooling Artic Liquid Freezer 2 - 420mm
Memory G.Skill Sniper 32gb DDR5 6000
Video Card(s) GreenTeam 4070 ti super 16gb
Storage Samsung EVO 500gb & 1Tb, 2tb HDD, 500gb WD Black
Display(s) 1x Nixeus NX_EDG27, 2x Dell S2440L (16:9)
Case Phanteks Enthoo Primo w/8 140mm SP Fans
Audio Device(s) onboard (realtek?) - SPKRS:Logitech Z623 200w 2.1
Power Supply Corsair HX1000i
Mouse Steeseries Esports Wireless
Keyboard Corsair K100
Software windows 10 H
Benchmark Scores https://i.imgur.com/aoz3vWY.jpg?2
I'm guessing those that need these gasses did not make a Plan B for when this would happen.
 
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
Messages
4,626 (0.92/day)
Hi,
Russia doing what Russia wants to do seems the only issue atm.
Don't believe Russian oil has ever stopped flowing either.
US hasn't stopped importing fertilizers(also Uranium to run their power plants) from Russia either and without those their own farming would be crippled so there's that. Now imagine the chaos if Russia bans export of fertilizers to US.
BTW I just saw news of European countries restarting coal power plants while they are lecturing India and China over green house gas emissions.
 
Joined
Oct 27, 2020
Messages
797 (0.53/day)
US hasn't stopped importing fertilizers(also Uranium to run their power plants) from Russia either and without those their own farming would be crippled so there's that. Now imagine the chaos if Russia bans export of fertilizers to US.
BTW I just saw news of European countries restarting coal power plants while they are lecturing India and China over green house gas emissions.
Are you watching Jimmy Dore's channel perchance?jk
 
Joined
Feb 20, 2020
Messages
9,340 (5.28/day)
Location
Louisiana
System Name Ghetto Rigs z490|x99|Acer 17 Nitro 7840hs/ 5600c40-2x16/ 4060/ 1tb acer stock m.2/ 4tb sn850x
Processor 10900k w/Optimus Foundation | 5930k w/Black Noctua D15
Motherboard z490 Maximus XII Apex | x99 Sabertooth
Cooling oCool D5 res-combo/280 GTX/ Optimus Foundation/ gpu water block | Blk D15
Memory Trident-Z Royal 4000c16 2x16gb | Trident-Z 3200c14 4x8gb
Video Card(s) Titan Xp-water | evga 980ti gaming-w/ air
Storage 970evo+500gb & sn850x 4tb | 860 pro 256gb | Acer m.2 1tb/ sn850x 4tb| Many2.5" sata's ssd 3.5hdd's
Display(s) 1-AOC G2460PG 24"G-Sync 144Hz/ 2nd 1-ASUS VG248QE 24"/ 3rd LG 43" series
Case D450 | Cherry Entertainment center on Test bench
Audio Device(s) Built in Realtek x2 with 2-Insignia 2.0 sound bars & 1-LG sound bar
Power Supply EVGA 1000P2 with APC AX1500 | 850P2 with CyberPower-GX1325U
Mouse Redragon 901 Perdition x3
Keyboard G710+x3
Software Win-7 pro x3 and win-10 & 11pro x3
Benchmark Scores Are in the benchmark section
US hasn't stopped importing fertilizers(also Uranium to run their power plants) from Russia either and without those their own farming would be crippled so there's that. Now imagine the chaos if Russia bans export of fertilizers to US.
BTW I just saw news of European countries restarting coal power plants while they are lecturing India and China over green house gas emissions.
Hi,
Yep no taste to stop Russia anywhere so sanctions have been for the most part symbolic jesters at best with no bite
When Russia says something you have to take it seriously because nobody will step in and frankly talk is cheap except on Russia's side you can take that shit to the bank.

Funny thing is we're supposed to believe US would do something if China invaded :laugh:
 
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
Messages
4,626 (0.92/day)
Hi,
Yep no taste to stop Russia anywhere so sanctions have been for the most part symbolic jesters at best with no bite
When Russia says something you have to take it seriously because nobody will step in and frankly talk is cheap except on Russia's side you can take that shit to the bank.

Funny thing is we're supposed to believe US would do something if China invaded :laugh:
Unfortunately in this whole mess its the common citizen suffering whether its high cost of fuel leading to inflation and then there are supply chain disruptions which have been going on since the beginning of pandemic. Just dont even want to imagine the chaos of invasion of Taiwan.
Are you watching Jimmy Dore's channel perchance?jk
Who is that? never heard of him.
 
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
Messages
4,626 (0.92/day)
I was just only kidding!


I just remember reading articles(weirdly it was on April 1st) on how US made special arrangements for importing fertilizers from Russia.

Also this week seeing news of how Europe is being a hypocrite with colonial attitude towards climate change:
 
Top