Umicore opens facility for electronic chemicals in Germany

Umicore Precious Metals Chemistry is the only European manufacturer of TMGa and TEGa and supplies customers across the world from its Hanau manufacturing base. Umicore Precious Metals Chemistry helps to reduce cost of ownership through its innovative approach to process chemistry and its collaborative approach with customers and end users.

Trimethylgallium is a colourless liquid with very high vapour pressure, which boils at low temperatures. Umicore’s new production process increases the yield of TMGa in comparison with current production technologies. In this way, organic solvents can be completely dispensed with. The TMGa is prepared by chemically reacting gallium trichloride with a more efficient methylating agent in molten salt. This reduces the amount of waste per kilogram of TMGa by more than 50 percent, with the resulting intermediates being recycled in the process. The finished product is then used in the semiconductor industry, where it evaporates in closed systems onto a substrate. This creates, for example, environmentally friendly LED lamps.