Ozone Generator

Ozone and hydrogen generators and delivery systems both produce their process gas on-site rather than storing it in bulk, because both gases are too unstable or hazardous to store and ship the way inert gases can — ozone decays back to oxygen within minutes, and hydrogen's flammability makes large on-site storage a safety liability most fabs avoid.

Ozone has to be generated essentially on demand because it decays back to ordinary oxygen within minutes, which rules out storing it in any tank the way a stable gas can be stored. An ozone generator uses an electrical discharge to convert oxygen into ozone right at the point of use, feeding it almost immediately into whatever process needs it — ozonated-water cleaning, certain oxide deposition steps — because any ozone generated but not used quickly simply reverts back to oxygen before it can be put to use, making bulk storage pointless regardless of how large a tank might be available.

Hydrogen delivery systems minimize risk the opposite way — not through a fast decay clock, but by keeping the quantity of flammable gas physically present in the fab as small as possible at any given time. Rather than storing a large bulk supply of hydrogen on-site, which would be a significant flammability hazard if ever released, many fabs either keep hydrogen storage deliberately minimal and closely monitored, or generate it on-demand through on-site electrolysis — producing hydrogen from water right as it's needed rather than storing a standing inventory of the flammable gas at all.

Ozone and hydrogen delivery systems both work around the same underlying constraint — neither gas is a good candidate for conventional bulk storage — by generating or delivering each gas in a way that keeps the hazard or instability contained to the smallest practical quantity and timeframe.