Life cycle process management for environmentally sound and cost effective semiconductor manufacturing

Customers, regulators, and the public are increasingly focused on the chemical and environmental characteristics of semiconductor fabrication. At the same time, semiconductor material, process, and equipment innovations are being introduced at a breakneck pace. An effective partnership between the equipment, process, and environmental engineering teams at a fabricator can achieve a succession of process improvements which reduce the environmental impacts of the process, enhance its efficiency, and reduce costs through improved material and commodity utilization and residuals and emissions management. This demonstrates a strong environmental focus at the fabricator to our customers and the public. Effective implementation of a cycle of continuous process improvements depends on the execution of key business systems: chemical review and approval, evaluation and collection of input and output data from all process equipment, and cross functional pollution prevention teams for commodity use and emission reductions. Effective execution of these processes has reduced manufacturing costs by several million dollars since 1998 while reducing site air emissions by 46% and hazardous waste generation by 25%.