All new laboratory materials and chemicals being brought into the CIS building need approval because of contamination, safety, storage, and disposal issues.

Contamination is a potential problem because equipment is shared; and the introduction of a contaminant, such as gold, could degrade fabricated devices. For this reason, a purity analysis may be required for approval of a new material. Incidently, "new materials" includes films on silicon wafers, such as glass or other films deposited outside of SNF.

Safety is always a concern because a new material or chemical, in its present form or in its by-product from its use in the lab, may be hazardous and thus require special handling and documentation. The disposal concerns revolve around how the material or its by-products leaves the CIS building. Many materials used in the lab can have negative environmental impact if disposed of improperly.

If you would like to bring in a new chemical or material, you must follow the procedures outlined <here>. Please note that any container of non-standard compound (or of standard compound for personal use) must be appropriately labeled. It is also a good idea to check if your new compound has already been evaluated for use at SNF (check the SNF Materials list and the SNF MSDS Index), what potential hazards it may pose, how it should be stored, and other safety information that can be found on its MSDS (Stanford EH&S maintains an on-line MSDS library; SNF also maintains an MSDS binder of compounds used at this facility.) As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns about chemicals or materials, contact SpecMat.

Other Materials and Chemicals links:

• Chemicals and Materials Control Policy
• Common Chemicals and Materials used at SNF
• Contamination Control using Equipment Groups
• Stanford University Library of MSDS Sheets
• SNF Index of MSDS Sheets
• About New Materials or Chemicals
• Procedures for New Materials or Chemicals
• Labelling of Personal Chemicals Containers
• Chemical Hazard Classes
• Chemical Storage Group Classification
• Special Materials Committee (SpecMat)
• An Introduction to Contamination Issues
• Stanford Chemical Safety Database
• Safety Policies