For all of the semiconductor industry’s legendary reputation for cleanliness, the actual processes that go into making chips use some of the nastiest stuff imaginable. Silicon oxide is nothing but boring old sand, and once it’s turned into ultrapure crystals and sliced into wafers, it still doesn’t do much. Making it into working circuits requires dopants like phosphorous and boron to give the silicon the proper semiconductor properties.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://hackaday.com/2024/02/27/big-chemistry-hydrofluoric-acid/