Semiconductor manufacturing has an infinite carbon footprint, from the mining processes used to extract and refine the element supplies to the chip fabrication steps themselves. Sustainability, nevertheless, doesn’t simply apply to shrinking carbon footprints. The sustainability crucial offers a singular opening for semiconductor corporations to enhance manufacturing and create new services and products.
Beneath are among the prime methods semiconductor producers can begin using in the present day to enhance their sustainability objectives for tomorrow. These are designed round knowledge mastery (analytics), inexperienced tech, provide chain administration, and round design.
Sustainable semiconductor manufacturing methods
Knowledge Mastery
Knowledge mastery just isn’t solely key to a sustainable future, but additionally the brand new foreign money for aggressive benefit. Semiconductor manufacturing analytics embrace knowledge technique objectives, knowledge engineering necessities, and yield enchancment use instances to drive strategic development insights.
Manufacturing analytics can generate tangible worth, resembling lowering machine downtime by as much as 50% and enhancing manufacturing yield by 5-15% by leveraging machine and deep studying, in accordance with Accenture.
A few of the key instruments and greatest practices that semiconductor producers can leverage embody:
- Harness knowledge engineering together with abstraction layers and knowledge meshing.
- Remodel complicated semiconductor variables right into a virtuous cycle of perception and decisiveness with AI and ML insights for cumulative worth creation.
- Make the most of new instruments to leverage recent worth throughout core manufacturing steps from design to fabrication, meeting, check, and delivery.
Inexperienced Tech
Organizations can shift to hyperscale knowledge facilities and optimize their cloud utilization to cut back total vitality use. They will additionally “inexperienced” their remaining vitality utilization by switching to areas with extra direct native renewables and working workloads at a time of day when renewables can be found.
To take action, companies want to start out with establishing a baseline of present knowledge heart vitality consumption, computing necessities, and sustainability objectives. The subsequent step lies in quantifying the “greenness” of potential cloud resolution choices, primarily based on a spread of data such because the cloud service suppliers’ carbon emissions objectives, areas, vitality sources, and readiness to transition to scrub vitality
Semiconductor corporations can study from different industries and the way they used this technique to make an impression. For instance, when a massive mining firm started its transition to the cloud, it wanted to raised perceive its CO₂ footprint, particularly emissions in its knowledge facilities, and the way its ongoing cloud transition might contribute to emission reductions.
By gathering knowledge on vitality consumption for its 32 knowledge facilities, the corporate gained a greater understanding of the impression of cloud on emissions in addition to potential financial savings by way of a cloud migration. It additionally elevated its data of the way it might additional leverage cloud in its strategic operations. The corporate was then capable of flip this evaluation into motion and obtain the next:
- Estimated emission reductions of roughly 5,000 metric tons.
- Estimated 90% discount within the carbon footprint of its knowledge facilities
However these initiatives may also happen instantly within the fab. Intel, for instance, launched a brand new cooling system in its Oregon fab that reduces water, vitality, and air air pollution by recovering the warmth eliminated by cooling programs to supply heating for its buildings. This helped cut back water necessities for this facility by about 45 million gallons per 12 months and CO₂ emissions from its boilers by about 80%.
Provide Chain Administration
Coordination and collaboration throughout the provision chain is essential. That’s the reason SEMI’s Sustainability Advisory Council is contemplating easy methods to standardize sustainability reporting processes and higher share correct knowledge all through the provision chain.
Corporations additionally have to pursue accountable sourcing with their suppliers. For instance, producers resembling ASML are becoming a member of the Accountable Enterprise Alliance, the world’s largest trade coalition devoted to company social accountability in world electronics provide chains.
As a part of its involvement, ASML has adopted the RBA Code of Conduct, which is a set of social, environmental, and moral trade requirements. They anticipate key suppliers to take part on this widespread effort and encourage them to develop their very own sustainability methods, insurance policies, and processes, and to actively pursue their very own suppliers’ adherence to this code.
One other efficient technique for provide chain administration lies in enhancing reverse logistics resembling restore, refurbishment, repackaging, recycling, and materials harvesting. These can successfully cut back an organization’s environmental, social, and financial impression.
Round Design
Between smartphone improve cycles and knowledge facilities swapping out servers to maintain up with the calls for of IoT and AI, greater than 50 million metric tons of digital waste accumulate yearly. The uncooked supplies alone are price an estimated $60 billion.
As a substitute of making an attempt to recycle after the very fact, engineering groups want to contemplate sustainability on the design stage. In accordance with Accenture analysis, designing merchandise for reuse, resale, restore, refurbishment, and remanufacturing can increase working revenue for a corporation by 16%. As well as, modifying enterprise fashions for restoration of merchandise can convey as much as 35% in value financial savings, an 80% discount in materials losses, and a forty five% discount in CO₂ emissions.
program for servers (Supply: Accenture, No Time to E-Waste, 2020) (Click on picture to enlarge)
Onwards to Extra Sustainability
With the expansion of the IoT and the widespread availability of AI and machine studying, semiconductor producers lastly have the instruments to tame knowledge overload and obtain excessive ranges of innovation and yield enhancements.
The time is correct for the trade to work collectively to assist enhance sustainability and begin assembly ESG objectives.
