CEO and Founder Purity Resource, CA, United States
The semiconductor industry has a long history of heavy resource usage. Extreme challenges with respect to continuation of Moore’s law, line width shrinkage, reduced power consumption, device reliability and overall device cost, have resulted in tremendous advances in semiconductor manufacturing technology. However, an unintended consequence of this is the lack of analogous advances in sustainable process development. Similar advances in process energy consumption and material recycling and reuse have not kept pace, where in most cases, well intended technologists are attempting to apply antiquated technologies to new problems.
The industry’s traditional approach has been to prioritize technology advancement and cost reduction. Climate change and social problems are now providing evidence that this model is not sustainable. The contrarian view, of placing sustainability first, may lead to some balance in the short term, but likewise is not sustainable.
Purity ReSource was formed to advance and implement process technology to meet the emerging needs of the semiconductor industry and all its stakeholders. What we learned in our initial process development leads to a new paradigm and potential cultural shift in our industry. By developing new recycling technologies, it has forced us to learn about material properties, purification processes, chemical distribution, waste collection methods, and logistical processes. In turn, this newly uncovered information may feed back into process design, material purification and manufacturing approaches. We are now reversing the previous trend of unintended consequences and discovering potential for unintended benefits.
Our innovation research advances state-of-the-art technologies to (1) increase separation efficiencies, (2) minimize equipment size and (3) dramatically reduce energy consumption. Aside from sustainability benefits we forsee:
• Increased knowledge surrounding materials properties – feeds back into process design improvement • Advancing purification technology – provides improved material consistency and results in higher yields for shrinking line widths • Increased process efficiency—results in reducing energy costs • Reduction in hazardous waste disposal costs • Reduction in upfront chemical costs • Less dependence on strained supply chains Our work supports the conclusion that increasing efforts towards sustainable practices leads to benefits in cost and technology advancement, where a balanced approach can provide optimal synergies.
