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April Meeting - Education Night Award Dinner

Title of Talk: "Semiconductor Manufacturing Processes"

Speaker: Conrad T. Sorenson, Praxair, Inc.

Date: Thursday, May 6, 2004

Place: Fairdale Banquet Center, 672 Wehrle Dr., Amherst, New York 14225

Time: 6:00-7:00 pm Cash Bar, cheese, fruit and vegetables
Dinner: 7:00 pm Buffet featuring roast beef, roast pork loin, vegetable stir fry, rice, potato, fresh vegetables, salad, rolls, coffee, tea and dessert. Cost: $26.00 per person payable the night of the dinner, make check payable to WNYACS.

Award Presentations: 8:00 pm

HONORING: DISTINGUISHED HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHER OF THE YEAR
Mr. Peter Hurley - Hutchinson Central Technical High School

WNY HIGH SCHOOL CHEMISTRY OLYMPIAD WINNERS
Manuel Hernandez and Kim Sang Tran - Hutch Tech High School
        Mr.Peter J. Hurley - teacher
Lenny Shulgin and Andrew Stecker - Amherst Central High School
        Mr. Dennis Bauer - teacher
Chris Murphy and John Zamojski - St. Joe's Collegiate Institute
        Mr. Matthew Hellerer - teacher
James Iarocci - Kenmore West Senior High School
        Mrs. Marilyn S. Drnevich - teacher
Jake Marchal - Letchworth Central High School
        Mr. Thomas R. Rycroft - teacher
Michael Oh - Williamsville East High School
        Mr. David Fabio - teacher

WNY COLLEGE OUTSTANDING UNDERGRADUATE SENIOR SCIENCE MAJORS
Thomas Robilotto - Buffalo State Dept. of Chemistry
Erik Rogers - Canisius College Dept. of Chemistry
Aauzia Ashely Abilmona - Canisius College Dept. of Biochemistry
Inga Haedicke - Niagara University Dept. of Chemistry
Keith Anselm - UB Dept. of Biochemistry
Jochebed Jolie Pun - UB Dept. of Chemistry
Siew Shee Lim - UB Dept. of Chemical Engineering
Adam Krol - UB Dept. of Medicinal Chemistry

Reservations: Patty Shelley, 716-888-2341 by Friday, April 30, 2004

TOPIC:
"Semiconductor Manufacturing Processes"

It has been fifty years since the invention of the transistor. In that time, transistors have shrunk from devices visible to the naked eye to nanotechnology. In this presentation we will review the key semiconductor processes, materials and equipment used to fabricate devices, and discuss process conditions and chemistry. Variations of these processes are also used to manufacture Flat Panel Displays and Microelectronic Mechanical Systems (MEMS).

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Conrad Sorenson has worked for Praxair's Electronics Division since 1997 in Technical Strategy and Program Development Management roles. His responsibilities bridge traditional research & development roles as well as product marketing and include: guiding advanced semiconductor research programs, interfacing with semiconductor process tool manufacturers, strategic
planning, and technology roadmapping. Before joining Praxair, Mr. Sorenson spent more than five years as the Director of Contamination Free Manufacturing, Environment, Safety & Health, and Facilities for SEMI/SEMATECH, a consortium of US owned suppliers of equipment, materials, software, and services to the semiconductor industry located in Austin, Texas.

Mr. Sorenson has been active in the semiconductor industry, both as a process engineer as well as a supplier since 1979. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from the University of Texas in Austin.

2004 Jacob F. Schoellkopf Award Medal
Will be presented to
Wilson Greatbatch
June 1, 2004
The Marriott Buffalo-Niagara
1340 Millersport Hwy.
Amherst, New York

Officers and Staff:

New Webmaster

Thanks to David Hoth, who has volunteered to be our new webmaster. Our website will be moving to the National ACS server http://membership.acs.org/W/WNY (PLEASE NOTE: This is CASE SENSITIVE - the W and WNY must be capitalized.), but you will still be able to link to it through the current site, (http://www2.canisius.edu/~dblbond/welcome.html). If you have any items that you would like to have posted on the website, please contact David at hoth@buffalo.edu.

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

It's Spring, there's greenery all around us again. Another Buffalo winter has come and gone - and it's almost graduation season! We are looking forward to honoring all the deserving teachers and students at this year's Education Night celebration. Please join us!

The March meeting, held at Ulrich's Tavern, was a fascinating trip down memory lane with Joe Bieron as our tour guide. In celebration of the upcoming 100th anniversary of our local ACS section in 2005, he presented "Chemistry is Everywhere, Chapters in Buffalo History".

For the warm-up talk the logical starting point was the history of Ulrich's, the oldest continuously operational tavern in Buffalo, established 1868. Jim Daley gave us a lively account of the history of the local area and the spicy flavor of the turn of the century German and Irish immigrant working class culture. We learned where the expression "bum's rush" came from. During the Great Depression, the taverns would provide a free buffet for anyone who bought a beer for a nickel. "Bums" who rushed in to get food from the buffet without buying anything were "rushed" out by the establishment's enforcers. The buffet actually provided food to desperate workers while keeping their pride intact, after all, they were not getting charity - the buffet was included with the purchase of beer.

Jim was a tough act to follow, but Joe did so with flying colors - a triumphant first presentation using "Power Point"! He reminded us of three major influences on the growth of Buffalo, the 8th most populous city in the USA at more than 660,000 residents during the 1950s. In the late 1800s the railroads were booming, in 1895 the hydroelectric revolution began in Niagara Falls, and in 1903 Bethlehem Steel was going strong. The leather industry - tanning - flourished because of livestock transportation through Buffalo and the numerous slaughterhouses in the area, that made hides plentiful and cheap. George Laub tanned 1000 hides/day - and a photo of his workers atop a mountain of hides impressed us with the immensity of that task! Jacob Schoellkopf, German immigrant and father of our own longest continuous local ACS section award, started out in the tanning industry.

Jacob Schoellkopf II, educated in Germany as a chemist, founded Schoellkopf Aniline and Dye Works, which became National Aniline in 1917, and was once THE LARGEST producer of dyes in the United States. During WWI intermediate chemicals for dyes were no longer available from the sole source, Germany; but Schoellkopf was adept with tariff laws and kept the business going. A fascinating handout was given, a copy of the patent for the Schoellkopf black dye process, by Oscar Mueller. A description of The Schoellkopf Aniline and Chemical Co., Abbott's Corners Plank Road, Buffalo, New York was also handed out, along with a map of the property.

Spencer Kellogg became the largest US producer of linseed oil from flaxseed grown in the Midwest. He eventually moved west, but while in Buffalo he turned heads by taking his 110 foot cruiser to work in downtown Buffalo - after having received his newspaper delivered by train to his lakeside property west of Wanakah - along with his crew of 12. A photo was shown of the SK laboratory, with men and women performing density, saponification, and
other analyses.

Full circle we went as Joe finished his presentation with a discussion of the brewery industry in Buffalo, which was major in the 1800s and gradually declined with the advent of major mass producers of beer such as Budweiser. As the saying goes, "fresh beer is the best beer", and my recent introduction to microbrews causes me to agree wholeheartedly! Beer making requires large quantities of fresh water, grain for malt, and a cool climate conducive to controlled fermentation - all of which Buffalo is able to provide. We learned about some guy who sold beer from a wheelbarrow at the waterfront, a colorful image to be sure! In 1830 Jacob Reese started the first official Buffalo brewery, Iroquois. The Lang Brewery sprung up at Best and Jefferson across from the old War Memorial Stadium. Magnus Beck was at N. Division and Spring St. In 1863 there were 35 major breweries, in 1885 19 breweries and malt houses, and in the 1950's only five remained. One of those was the William Simon Brewery, in the Broadway/Emslie area. The last to go was the Iroquois Brewery - closed in 1971.

In 1966 the Canisius College Chemistry professors took some students to the Iroquois Brewery, where there was free fresh beer for everyone and instead of water fountains the workers had beer taps to drink from! The written account of the visit read that there was a "very pleasant atmosphere" and it was a "wonderful tour" - as was our virtual one. Just to make sure we got a good feel for the olden days, Ulrich's gave us all free beer to go with our buffet dinners. Their house microbrew is out of this world! The inimitable German dinner included German potato salad, fresh rye bread with lots of Caraway seeds, corned beef - "to die for" - chicken breasts, mixed veggies, salad, and fabulous dill pickles. A wonderful time was had by all. We look forward to seeing YOU next time!

THOUGHTS TO PONDER...

The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.
--Linus Pauling

Being a leader means playing off people's strengths instead of reprimanding
them about their weaknesses.
--Gerald Chamales

Courage is a special kind of knowledge: the knowledge of how to fear what
ought to be feared and how not to fear what ought not to be feared.
--David Ben-Gurion, former Prime Minister of Israel

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant..

REACT

REACT is sponsored by the American Chemical Society for Pk-8 teachers. The workshops present the latest science program for elementary and middle schoolteachers. Workshops are held at Canisius College in the Horan-O'Donnell Science Building on the Main Street Campus.

Contact Mary Jean Sryek @ 894-2128
If you have any questions about this organization.

NSF-Sponsored Center for Workshops in the Chemical Sciences

It is a pleasure to announce the 2004 schedule of workshops offered by theNSF-sponsored Center for Workshops in the Chemical Sciences (CWCS). These week-long workshops are designed for faculty and staff with instructionalresponsibilities at the undergraduate-level at universities, colleges andcommunity colleges. Individuals who plan to embark on a career in college teaching (i.e., advanced graduate students and post-docs) are also welcome. The workshops are designed to provide a background and modern perspective on various topics in the chemical sciences, along with methods to introduce these topics into the college curriculum. They all involve extensive hands-on activities. Registration, housing and a per diem for food are provided at no cost to participants. Some support might also be available to cover the cost of travel to the workshops. The workshops have a long history of engaging faculty in new areas and providing great support for enhancing the curriculum
at a variety of institutions.

Further information about CWCS, descriptions of individual workshops, and an application are available on the web at: www.chemistry.gsu.edu/cwcs

I hope that you will consider attending a workshop and look forward to meetingyou at a CWCS sponsored event.

~David Collard


2004 Workshops

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
        Washington State University in Pullman, WA, May 23-28, 2004
Chemistry of Art
        Millersville University in Millersville, PA, June 6-11, 2004
Environmental Chemistry
        Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA, June 13-18, 2004
Molecular Modeling
        University of California at Riverside in Riverside, CA, June 13-18, 2004
Forensic Chemistry
        Williams College in Williamstown, MA, June 20-25, 2004
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
        University of Georgia in Athens, GA, June 20-25, 2004
Molecular Modeling
        University of California at Riverside in Riverside, CA, June 13-18, 2004
Forensic Chemistry
        Williams College in Williamstown, MA, June 20-25, 2004
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
        University of Georgia in Athens, GA, June 20-25, 2004
Modern Biomolecular Crystallography I
        California State University at Fullerton in Fullerton, CA, June 27 - July 01, 2004
Molecular Genetics and Protein Structure and Function
        University of Hawaii at Hilo in Hilo, HI, July 11-16, 2004
Chemical Education and Laboratory Learning
        University of Illinois at Chicago in Chicago, IL, July 11-16, 2004
Materials Science and Nanotechnology for Chemists
        Beloit College in Beloit, WI, July 25-30, 2004
Computational and Theoretical Chemistry
        Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA, May 30 - June 4, 2004
Polymer Chemistry
        Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA, June 20-25, 2004
Combinational and Solid Phase Synthesis
        Wright State University in Dayton, OH, August 1-6, 2004
Process Analytical Chemistry
        Jan. 2005


CWCS is sponsored by the NSF Curriculum Course and Laboratory Improvement National Dissemination (NSF-CCLI-ND) program. CWCS is directed by Dr. J.C. Smith (Georgia State University, Department of Chemistry, Atlanta, GA 30302 chejcs@panther.gsu.edu), Dr. Emelita D. Breyer (Georgia State University, Department of Chemistry, Atlanta, GA 30302; ebreyer@gsu.edu), Dr. David M. Collard, (Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Atlanta, GA 30332-0400; david.collard@chemistry.gatech.edu) and Dr. Larry Kaplan (Williams College, Department of Chemistry, Williamstown, MA 01267; lkaplan@williams.edu).

SENIOR CHEMISTS

please contact
Dr. Joseph F. Bieron @ 716 888-2357

This Month in Chemical History

Harold Goldwhite, California State University, Los Angeles
hgoldwh@calstatela.edu
(Prepared for SCALACS, the Journal of the Southern California, Orange County, and San Gorgonio Sections of the American Chemical Society)

April is the cruelest month- for April Fool's Day pranks. And since I'm preparing this article for an April issue of SCALACS (even though it may appear later in other venues) I've decided to discuss some hoaxes in chemistry and chemistry's predecessor, alchemy. Although most alchemists seem to have been sincere adepts in the pursuit of truth, and their numbers include such scientific greats as Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton, there is no doubt that one of the premises of alchemy, namely the claim to transmute base metals like lead into gold, attracted a goodly share of charlatans and frauds to the subject. There are two famous and vivid portraits of alchemists in English literature, and both of them portray alchemical swindlers. The earlier of these portraits is found in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, written around 1390. Incidentally the most famous Chaucer manuscript, the Ellesmere Chaucer, is on display in the Huntington Library in San Marino, within our Southern California Section. The Canon's Yeoman's Tale is one of pseudo-alchemical deceit. In the opening the Yeoman speaks of his master, the Canon:

"If you try science you'll be brought to book.
My eyes are bleared with work on preparations,
That's all the good you get from transmutations."

(All quotations are from Nevill Coghill's admirable translation into modern rhyming English, first published in Penguin Classics in 1952.) Part I of the tale discusses in chemical detail the fruitless efforts of the Canon, in which most of the drudge work was done by his Yeoman, to carry out the fabled preparation of the Philosopher's Stone, that elixir which, when projected upon a baser metal, will transmute it into gold, Part II describes a second Canon who is known to the Yeoman to be a crook. This Canon, a true con-man, borrows a substantial sum from a priest and repays it promptly. He then promises to perform a miracle for the priest;

"Sir, he addressed the priest, send out your man
For quicksilver, as quickly as you can;
Let him bring back several ounces two or three,
And when he's back I promise you shall see
A miracle you never saw before."

The Canon now performs a transmutation of an ounce of the newly purchased mercury by the aid of "a powder here that cost the earth" into genuine silver. The method is simplicity itself; in the crucible where the transmutation occurs the Canon places:

".. A bit of beechwood, charred to coal
In which there had been subtly bored a hole
That held an ounce of silver filings, stopped
With wax securely, lest a filing dropped."

You can probably predict the rest of this educational Tale. Having carried out not one but two successful transmutations of mercury into silver and one of copper into silver he offers to sell the powerful powder to the priest for a mere forty pounds in gold. The poor dupe obliges, the Canon leaves town rapidly, and the powder left with the priest inevitably turns out to be worthless. Caveat emptor.

The same Latin tag might also apply to Sir Epicure Mammon, the victim of the alchemist Subtle in Ben Jonson's Jacobean comedy "The Alchemist", written in 1610. The plot is similar to Chaucer's. Sir Epicure, a rich man lured by Subtle's promises of even greater wealth gained through alchemy, is conned into supporting Subtle's household and experimental expenses, but gets nothing but bills and frustrations. Typical of Jonson's plays, and those of his contemporaries, is the use of names that describe the characters including Abel Drugger, a would-be pharmacist, Dol Common, Subtle's female sidekick, and Tribulation Wholesome, a pastor. Perhaps the best known purely chemical hoax is the letter written by Woehler to Liebig in 1840 as a private joke. But Liebig published it in his journal Annalen under the by-line S.C.H.Windler. In this letter Woehler carries the newly observed phenomena of substitution of chlorine for hydrogen in organic compounds to an absurd height. This was a controversial topic at the time because supporters of Berzelius' dualism could not accept that the replacement of electropositive hydrogen by electronegative chlorine could lead to a compound of not greatly altered properties. Windler offers a scenario in which every atom in manganous acetate is replaced by chlorine leading to a completely chlorinated material with the properties of manganous acetate. Liebig added the footnote: "I have just learned that in the shops of London there are already fabrics of spun chlorine, very much in demand in the hospitals and preferred over all others for night caps, drawers etc."

ISSUE COPY DEADLINE: FIRST OF MONTH PRIOR TO PUBLICATION

The Western New York Section of the American Chemical Society and its editors assume no responsibility for the statements and opinions advanced by the contributors. Views expressed in the editorials are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Western New York Section of the American Chemical Society. All materials to appear in the next issue of the Double Bond must be received by the Editor, in care of the Chemistry Department, Canisius College, 2001 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14208, by the FIRST day of the month. Notice for change of address should be sent to the editor.

The Double Bond is published monthly from September through June by the WNY Section of the ACS. USPS# 893 86000. Subscriptions: $3/yr. Member subscriptions are included in the annual dues. Advertising rates upon request. Permission to reprint is granted all ACS publications. Office of printer and publication: Canisius College, Buffalo, NY 14208. Postmaster: Send change of address to: P.O. Box 187, Grand Island, NY 14072. Periodical class postage rates at Grand Island, NY 14072-0187.

WEB PAGE: membership.acs.org/W/WNY

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