Advanced Technology Materials, Inc.
                                    7 Commerce Drive, Danbury, CT 068/0
                                                        /.ofm/.com
       DESCRIPTION OF THE TECHNOLOGY

With support from the Environmental Protection Agency's
(EPA) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Pro-
gram, ATMI, Inc., developed an innovative solid scrub-
bing material designed especially to reduce toxic air emis-
sions from the semiconductor industry. With 30 times the
capacity of activated carbon, the new material became
the core of the Novapure Dry Scrubber System that was
introduced into the market in 1991. The Novapure Sys-
tem has broad application in the electronics industry and
in research and development institutions where small
amounts of hazardous materials are routinely employed
in chemical vapor deposition (CVD) processes.

Since the award of this SBIR contract, ATMI has de-
veloped a family of novel vent gas scrubbers that are
cost effective in reducing toxic air emissions from small
quantity CVD processes as well as toxic air emissions
released by semiconductor manufacturers. ATMI pro-
cess scrubbers are smaller than traditional air pollu-
tion control equipment. Instead of a single  large in-
stallation outside a fabrication plant, ATMI's abatement
products are small enough to be located at each indi-
vidual pollution source.

       SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TECHNOLOGY

The rapid growth of the American microelectronics in-
dustry has spawned new environmental challenges asso-
ciated with the processes used to prepare semiconductor
chips that are key components of sophisticated electronic
devices. Silane, phosphine, and arsine are used in CVD
steps in semiconductor fabrication. Although large com-
panies have built expensive facilities for handling small
amounts of these materials, small manufacturers have
vented the gases to the atmosphere or used similar unac-
ceptable techniques. As production increased, however,
venting of these gases to the atmosphere was no longer
an option.

The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know
Act designates silane, phosphine, and arsine as extremely
hazardous chemicals used by the semiconductor industry;
these chemicals are  also regulated as toxic chemicals un-
der the Clean Air Act. ATMI's scrubber system transforms
these toxic gases into nonvolatile, benign solids through
chemical absorption. By neutralizing, solidifying, and con-
centrating hazardous effluent up to 20,000 times, this
technology helps to eliminate toxic air emissions and
minimize solid toxic wastes from small semiconductor
manufacturers.

          COMMERCIALIZATION SUCCESS

ATMI was granted four U.S. patents on its dry scrubber
technology, and in just 3 years, the company's annual
sales grew to nearly $6 million. To expand its environ-
mental control equipment market, in 1994 and 1995
ATMI acquired  the rights to alternative  technologies,
including wet scrubbing and combustion scrubbing.
These acquisitions  increased ATMI's annual revenues
to nearly $30 million at that time.
4-  ATMI's dry scrubber system reduces toxic air emissions from the semiconductor industry.
4-  The innovative solid scrubbing material, the core of ATMI's Novapure dry scrubber, has  30 times the
    capacity of activated carbon.
4-  This SBIR contract led to the development of a family of novel vent gas scrubbers that are cost effective
    in reducing toxic air emissions from chemical vapor deposition processes as well as several new safety-
    related products that eliminate the use of toxic gases in the semiconductor industry.
4-  ATMI has received the Tibbetts Award in recognition of the company's excellence in the area of high
    technology, as well as several other awards.
4-  ATMI has grown from four employees in  1987 to nearly 1,100 employees; revenues for 2001 were
    $213 million.

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       ATMI's Novapure Dry Scrubber
       System, designed to reduce toxic
       air emissions from the semicon-
       ductor industry, was introduced
       into the market in 1991.
    ATMI's  patented  SDS®  adsorbent
    technology stores toxic  gases  below
    atmospheric  pressure, removing the
    concerns of catastrophic releases  of
    high-pressure hazardous gases.
ATMI is the largest supplier of point-of-use emission con-
trol equipment for the semiconductor industry in the world.
This SBIR project led to the  development of several
new safety-related products for the semiconductor in-
dustry. One product, called the Safe Delivery Source®^
or SDS®, that uses absorbent materials similar to those
of the dry scrubber system, eliminates the use of high-
pressure toxic gases in the semiconductor industry.
ATMI's SDS® Sub-Atmospheric Gas Delivery Systems
represent the company's largest source of revenue.

            AWARDS AND COMPANY HISTORY
          In recognition of its outstanding achieve-
          ments in technology innovation, ATMI re-
          ceived the Tibbetts Award in 1996. This
          award is presented by the U.S. Small Busi-
          ness Administration to companies associated
with the SBIR Program that are models of excel-
lence in the area of high technology. In 1997, ATMI
was recognized as an Outstanding Small Business En-
terprise by EPA. ATMI also was identified as one of
America's 100 Fastest Growing Companies by Individual
Investor Magazine in 2000, and ranked 63rd on
Fortune's list of 100 Fastest Growing Companies. In
2002, ATMI was included in Business 2.0's list of Fast-
est Growing Companies, and made  the Connecticut
Technology Fast 50 list for the sixth time. Since 1987,
when ATMI was awarded the EPA SBIR Phase I con-
tract, the company has grown from four employees
working in  a small garage in New Milford, CT, to
nearly 1,100 employees in numerous locations around
the world. Revenues in 2001 were $213 million. Origi-
nally called Advanced Technology Materials, Inc., the
company changed its name to ATMI, Inc., in 1997.
EPA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program was created to assist small businesses in
transforming innovative ideas into commercial products. The SBIR Program has two phases—Phase I is
the feasibility study to determine the validity of the proposed concept and Phase II is the development of
the technology or product proven feasible in Phase I. EPA also offers Phase II Options to accelerate the
commercialization of SBIR technologies and to complete EPA's Environmental Technology Verification
(ETV) Program. For more information about EPA's SBIR Program and the National Center for Environmental
Research, visit http://www.epa.gov/ncer/sbir.

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