Nitrogen trifluoride

Nitrogen trifluoride, NF3, a binary compound of nitrogen and fluorine, is a colorless, toxic, nonflammable, corrosive gas shipped in cylinders at high pressure. It has a characteristic moldy odor. It is a pulmonary irritant with toxicity comparable with nitrogen oxides. It may damage liver and kidneys. It is slightly soluble in water without undergoing chemical reaction.

Use
Nitrogen trifluoride is used in the plasma and thermal cleaning of CVD reactors. It is also used as a source of fluorine radicals for plasma etching of eg. polysilicon, silicon nitride, tungsten silicide, and tungsten, in which application it can replace perfluorocarbons (eg. hexafluoroethane) and sulfur hexafluoride, resulting in both ecological advantage and higher process efficiency. It is compatible with the metals steel and Monel(TM), and several plastics. It is a potent oxidizer, used to oxidize some high-energy fuels, preparation of tetrafluorohydrazine, and to fluorinate fluorocarbon olefins.

Nitrogen trifluoride is also used as a fuel for hydrogen fluoride and deuterium fluoride lasers, types of chemical lasers.

History
Otto Ruff started his first unsucsesful experiments to synthezise nitrogen trifluoride in 1903. After 25 years he retried the synthesis and received the nitrogen trifluoride, which was by far less reactive and non explosive than the nitrogen trichloride, by the electrolysis of a molten mixture of ammonium fluoride and hydrogen fluoride.