Key Points

• The semiconductor industry is facing significant challenges related to energy usage, resource depletion, and environmental impacts 

• Collaborative efforts between industry, academia, and consortia like Semiconductor Research Corporation® (SRC) are actively seeking sustainable solutions to mitigate these impacts with improvements in semiconductor manufacturing

• Innovative research is ongoing with current investments; nevertheless, 50x more funding is needed to fully achieve environmental sustainability and regulatory compliance in semiconductor manufacturing

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In the rapidly evolving technology landscape, microelectronics—also known as semiconductors or microchips—play a pivotal role in driving efficiency and innovation across various sectors. These tiny electronic components, essential for modern electronics, are manufactured on semiconductor substrates through a complex and energy-intensive process known as microchip fabrication. This process occurs in large facilities called fabs, where transistors, capacitors, and resistors are precisely crafted using advanced equipment and specialized chemicals.

The importance of microelectronics cannot be overstated. They control everything from smartphones and laptops to medical equipment, renewable energy systems, and the latest models of gaming consoles and self-driving cars. However, the energy and chemical intensity involved in producing a single microchip is immense. As highlighted in the video tutorial "How are Microchips Made," the construction of a microchip involves over 900 layers. Each layer, which can consist of various materials like metals, insulators, or semiconductors, requires precise processing with specialized, high-cost machinery.

With the demand for computing power rising exponentially, the semiconductor industry faces increasing challenges related to energy usage, resource depletion, and greenhouse gas emissions related to semiconductor manufacturing. As noted in the article "Why the Semiconductor Industry Cares about Sustainability," the growing need for advanced computing power directly correlates with a surge in energy consumption. This trend places significant pressure on global energy resources and contributes to environmental concerns, such as increased carbon emissions and resource depletion. The semiconductor industry is actively seeking sustainable solutions to mitigate these impacts.

Chapter Five of the Decadal Plan for Semiconductors warns that without a paradigm shift in our approach to computing and energy efficiency, global energy production may not be sufficient to meet the demands of intensive computing operations. The push for advanced computing capabilities requires the design of increasingly complex microchips, which in turn necessitates more energy-intensive equipment and manufacturing processes.

To address these challenges, the semiconductor industry is focusing on two critical areas as highlighted in Chapter 2 of the SRC MAPT Roadmap. These areas are significantly enhancing energy efficiency in information and communication technologies (ICT) and improving environmental sustainability and efficiency throughout the entire lifecycle of microelectronics, all while maintaining performance standards. The semiconductor ecosystem—including industry, academia, and consortia such as Semiconductor Research Corporation® (SRC)—are currently focused on developing sustainable semiconductor manufacturing environments.

Semiconductor Research Corporation’s Environment, Safety, and Health (ESH) program, launched in January 1994, promotes sustainable manufacturing solutions across IC manufacturing stages. Over 29 years, it has invested more than $38M in 83 projects at 17 U.S. universities. Industry leaders like EMD, Global Foundries, IBM, Intel, Micron, and TI collaborate with SRC, investing in academic research to develop innovative, eco-friendly semiconductor manufacturing solutions. In these years SRC supported academic research that enabled industry to transition to more environmentally friendly materials and processes. Noteworthy challenges addressed through previous academic and industry collaboration include the characterization of toxicity of nanoparticles, the study of the detrimental effects of azoles and onium salts on human health and the environment, water conservation, and the reduction of hazardous chemicals usage through green manufacturing.

A Closer Look at Current Research

Several innovations and collective efforts across the semiconductor ecosystem are being made to identify, treat, and dispose of hazardous chemicals and emissions. A class of synthetic chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have recently gained notoriety. Their unique properties have proven essential for the complex processes involved in manufacturing advanced microelectronic devices.  Researchers at Cornell University, in collaboration with industry, have identified the strong C-F bond in large molecules as the key factor behind their attractive properties, making them essential in semiconductor manufacturing. This bond contributes to their remarkable chemical stability, which unfortunately results in their persistent presence in the environment, giving the name ‘forever chemicals’. Recently, there has been an urgent call to safely treat, dispose of, and find alternatives to these ‘forever chemicals.’ As the name implies, these chemicals are extremely difficult to degrade, posing potential hazards to life forms due to bioaccumulation.

Approximately $8.5M is invested by SRC in conducting academic research to find, treat, and destroy these fluorinated chemicals before entering the environment. In addition, a significant portion of the investment was made to find alternatives to replace the chemicals used in manufacturing. One crucial consideration when seeking alternatives for chemicals used in current processes is to ensure that strong performance metrics and productivity yields are maintained. Replacing current chemicals while maintaining benchmark performance is a time-consuming process.

However, semiconductor companies are proactively working on solutions. They are not only seeking replacements but also incorporating innovative methods to treat and destroy hazardous chemicals in waste and exhaust systems. This proactive approach ensures that they stay ahead of environmental regulations and industry standards, while also safeguarding the health of their workers and the surrounding communities. 

Recently, researchers at Cornell University have pioneered advanced analytical techniques to trace PFAS sources in semiconductor manufacturing. This research was led by Dr. Damian Helbling and then-graduate student Dr. Paige Jacob, who now serves in the government as the Program Manager for PFAS Mitigation in Semiconductor Manufacturing at Natcast. Their groundbreaking work earned the SRC Sustainable Future Award in 2023.

Meanwhile, Clarkson University researchers demonstrated the use of plasma technology to effectively destroy these persistent chemicals in waste streams. This research work was led by Dr. Selma Mededovic and then-graduate student Dr. Faith Isowamwen, now a Process Engineer at Applied Materials. Their innovative work earned the SRC Sustainable Future Award in 2022. 

In addition to potentially hazardous chemicals, the modern information and communication technology sector contributes up to 2.8% of overall carbon footprint associated with manufacturing of microelectronic devices and the use of semiconductor devices by end consumers. (Read more in The Sustainability Yardstick.) Delving deeper, it is evident that about 75% of the overall ICT carbon footprint stems from the manufacturing and assembly of microelectronic components in the form of scope 1 and scope 2 emissions[i]. Given the significant contribution of greenhouse gasses from these segments, semiconductor companies are taking the opportunity to make a positive impact to environment by investing in research that will lead to innovations that can safely breakdown and abate the PFCs and other corrosive and global warming potential (GWP) gases.

SRC’s ESH portfolio, with investments from its member companies, is driving academic research to understand the efficacy of the abatement systems and alternative gases with low GWP. Collaborative work between industry and academics researchers from Arizona State University are innovating and developing abatement techniques to reduce/convert the exhaust process gases into less GWP compounds. Several such breakthroughs coming from SRC ESH’s program, while currently only providing lab scale solutions, have great potential to scale up and enable sustainable semiconductor manufacturing. However, a 50-fold increase in investment in environmentally sustainable manufacturing research is necessary for ideas from university labs to overcome the “valley of death” and graduate to development stages of the innovation pipeline.

The semiconductor industry acknowledges these achievements as a crucial step towards environmental sustainability. However, significant effort and investment are still required to drive a transformative shift in developing and scaling sustainable solutions. Major companies within the industry have formed consortia to prioritize the removal of PFAS, reduction of greenhouse gases, and conservation of natural resources. The semiconductor industry is actively striving to reduce its carbon footprint through the formation of the Semiconductor Climate Consortium (SCC). In his Semiconductor Climate Consortium keynote address, Al Gore succinctly highlighted the significance of this initiative:

"A lot of the activity in this consortium is pre-competitive, but even so, it takes an act of courage, intellectual bravery, and commitment to the future of humanity to put in the extra time, effort, and passion necessary to bring the consortium together,” he said. “I am immensely impressed and cannot underscore enough how important it is to succeed."

It is evident that government, industry, and academics are willing to collaborate. SRC strongly encourages Natcast to invest in a Sustainable Semiconductor Manufacturing (SSM) Center of Excellence. It is only with a strong public-private partnership that we can succeed in tackling these environmental challenges head-on. SRC brings extensive expertise to build partnerships that create a sustainable and resilient future for everyone.