Waste gas abatement technology for semiconductor processing

A semiconductor waste abatement system for a semiconductor processing system, the semiconductor processing system having a semiconductor processing chamber having a waste gas outlet, said semiconductor waste abatement system comprising:

• a vacuum pump having a pump inlet and a pump outlet;
• an abatement apparatus having an abatement chamber including a waste gas inlet and an outlet, said waste gas inlet adapted for fluid communication with a source of semiconductor waste gas from the waste gas outlet of the semiconductor processing chamber, said abatement chamber including an outer tube having said waste gas inlet, said waste gas inlet of said outer tube being adapted for fluid communication with the waste gas outlet of the semiconductor processing chamber, said abatement chamber further having an inner tube spaced inwardly of said outer tube to define a space there between and inwardly of said waste gas inlet, said inner tube having an inner wall, an inlet, and an outlet, said outlet of said inner tube being adapted for fluid communication with said pump inlet of said vacuum pump wherein said abatement chamber is under a vacuum, and said abatement chamber being configured to ionize the semiconductor waste gas and to exhaust ionized gas in said outer tube at said output of said abatement apparatus;
• a filter apparatus including a filter chamber, an inlet, and an outlet, said filter chamber forming a liquid reservoir, and said inlet of said filter apparatus in fluid communication with said outlet of said abatement chamber and said liquid reservoir, and said outlet of said filter apparatus in communication with said vacuum pump inlet, wherein the filter chamber is under a vacuum, and wherein the semiconductor waste gas is ionized in said abatement chamber and then filtered by said filter apparatus prior to input to said vacuum pump;
• and
• a fluid feeding circuit flowing fluid to said space between said outer tube and said inner tube wherein the fluid flows to said inlet of said inner tube to wet the inner wall of the inner tube to remove particles that may be deposited on said inner wall when said semiconductor waste abatement apparatus is used to abate the semiconductor waste gas from the semiconductor processing chamber.