Nitrogen trifluoride is the largest demand in the electronic special gas, is the semiconductor, display, solar cell industry production and manufacturing essential materials. In recent years, with the development of semiconductor and new display markets, the demand for nitrogen trifluoride is increasing, major manufacturers have expanded in recent years, and the worldwide production of nitrogen trifluoride has also increased. Nevertheless, since September, the nitrogen trifluoride market has been "out of stock", mainly because the market supply has not kept up with demand.

With the development of semiconductor ultra-large scale integrated circuit chips and OLED and other new display technologies, the market demand for NF3 has been explosive growth, and the compound annual growth rate of nitrogen trifluoride is nearly 10% in the next five years.

Nitrogen trifluoride cylinder

Production costs soar

Under the background of double control and double limit, the total crop rate of nitrogen trifluoride production unit in China is low. Power rationing leads to partial shutdown of air separation units, doubling of the price of liquid nitrogen for refrigeration, and the marketization of electricity trading leads to the price of electricity rising. Costs have soared as companies shut down ancillary facilities such as material recycling to ensure capacity for their main products. It is understood that a nitrogen trifluoride production enterprises in Shandong in the case of power rationing, in order to ensure the stable supply of nitrogen trifluoride to domestic semiconductor, display industry main customers. All staff under the high temperature of more than 32℃ to spontaneously reduce the use of air conditioning, management and auxiliary personnel into the production site to ensure production, all staff cooperation to eliminate all non-electric factors on nitrogen trifluoride capacity.

Raw material prices soar

Anhydrous hydrofluoric acid, the main raw material for nitrogen trifluoride, has also soared in price this year. According to the data released by business association, the price trend of domestic anhydrous hydrofluoric acid rose sharply in October, and the hydrofluoric acid market rose 56.55% year on year by the end of the month.

Logistics costs soar

Diesel oil is the food of the transportation industry, is the guarantee of the logistics industry, the sharp rise of oil prices, but also brought about the increase of logistics transportation costs. Energy prices such as diesel and natural gas have surged this year.

Increased market demand

The evolution of NAND Flash technology has greatly promoted the use of nitrogen trifluoride in integrated circuits. With the increasing economic development, China has become the world's major display panel production and export, the rapid development of display panel has become the main driving force of nitrogen trifluoride demand. With the explosive growth of 5G smartphone sales, sales of OLED panels for 5G smartphones are expected to grow significantly. Boe's OLED panel shipments will grow 50 percent this year, according to NH forecasts. The company's OLED panel shipments will rise from 17 million units in 2019 to 38.7 million units in 2020 and 57.9 million units in 2021, with the production process using a lot of nitrogen trifluoride.