Carbon tetrafluoride

Carbon tetrafluoride (CF₄), also called tetrafluoromethane, is a colorless, odorless, nonflammable gas used in semiconductor manufacturing and known for its persistence as a greenhouse gas.

Carbon–fluorine bond: A covalent bond between carbon and fluorine, among the strongest single bonds in organic chemistry. Four strong carbon–fluorine bonds make CF₄ chemically stable and difficult to break down.
Plasma etching: A fabrication process that uses reactive plasma species to remove selected material from a surface. CF₄ plasma supplies fluorine-containing species for etching silicon and other materials.
Fluorine: The chemical element with atomic number 9, a highly reactive halogen and the most electronegative element. Fluorine atoms form the strong bonds that define CF₄’s composition and properties.
Radiative forcing: A change in Earth’s energy balance caused by a factor such as a greenhouse gas or solar variation. Accumulated CF₄ contributes positive radiative forcing by trapping outgoing infrared energy.
Carbon dioxide: A colorless gas with formula CO₂, produced naturally and by combustion, that is a major human-caused greenhouse gas. CO₂ is the reference gas for comparing CF₄’s climate impact and has a much shorter atmospheric lifetime.
Molecular geometry: The three-dimensional arrangement of atoms in a molecule, shaped by bonding and electron-pair repulsion. CF₄ has a tetrahedral shape that distributes its four identical bonds symmetrically.
Reactive-ion etching: A dry etching method combining chemically reactive plasma with directional ion bombardment. CF₄-containing plasmas can etch semiconductor layers with controlled feature shapes.
Henri Moissan: A French chemist who isolated elemental fluorine in 1886 and received the 1906 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Moissan’s isolation of fluorine enabled later systematic study of fluorinated compounds such as CF₄.
Carbon dioxide equivalent: A common unit expressing the climate impact of greenhouse-gas emissions relative to carbon dioxide. CF₄ emissions are converted to CO₂-equivalent values to compare their climate impact.
Sulfur hexafluoride: A colorless, nonflammable gas with formula SF₆, used chiefly as an electrical insulator and highly potent as a greenhouse gas. SF₆ is another persistent industrial greenhouse gas, but its molecule contains sulfur rather than carbon.

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FluorocarbonBroader topic: Its extreme stability makes it a potent, long-lived greenhouse gas.