The State - News from March 22, 1988

More than 700 semiconductor workers at Advanced Micro Devices in Santa Clara were evacuated as a result of a silane gas cylinder explosion that killed three people in New Jersey. The employees were evacuated from two buildings at AMD’s Santa Clara facility while officials determined what to do with a cylinder of the potentially dangerous chemical manufactured by Chicago-based Liquid Carbonics, AMD spokesman John Greenagel said. On Thursday, a cylinder of silane, also made by Liquid Carbonics, exploded at a Berkeley Heights, N.J., chemical plant, killing three workers trying to remove the canister after its contents were found to be unstable. Greenagel said options that safety officials were considering included removing the tank or leaving it where it is and bleeding its contents. Silane gas is widely used in small quantities for semiconductor processing, Greenagel said.