Green Semiconductor Magic : Technological Revolution

Constructing a Greener Semiconductor: From Material to Fabrication

By Todd Brady, Vice President of Global Public Affairs at Intel and Chief Sustainability Officer

Manufacturing as a whole is still evolving and thriving. The industrial revolution began in the early ages, and since then, it has continuously changed with the advent of the assembly line, automation, robots, and now artificial intelligence (AI).

These days, everything revolves around sustainability: making the greatest products with the least negative effects on the environment or, as we do at Intel, developing revolutionary technology with no negative effects.

Intel realised that we needed to aggressively cut our emissions decades before most corporations were talking about becoming “Net Zero” or “Carbon Neutral.” One of my first tasks as an engineer at Intel 28 years ago was to build models to forecast emissions from the process technologies that are the foundation of our manufacturing operations, including greenhouse gases.

Ever since, we have been gradually ushering in a new era of production that is responsible.

Intel is dedicated to growing its business, but we also intend to do so while considering the impact on the environment. Our Fab 34 in Ireland, where we just declared the commencement of high-volume manufacture using Intel 4 technology, is on course to obtain LEED Gold certification by cutting greenhouse gas emissions, acquiring 100% renewable energy, conserving water, and disposing of trash in landfills in smaller quantities.

An excellent illustration of how Intel fulfils its promises to the future of sustainable manufacturing and to its leadership position in technology is our climate action plan for this manufacturing plant.

At our Chandler, Arizona expansion facility, Intel has stored over 25,000 tonnes of construction trash from its waste streams in Arizona; we recently announced that the initial cleanroom is “weather tight.” Additionally, the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) recently certified the Ocotillo campus at the Platinum level, demonstrating Intel’s continued dedication to water restoration and conservation.

hewas answer inquiries on what Intel is doing, what’s working, and what’s next from media, industry associations, customers, and suppliers every day. Curious to learn more? Proceed to read.

What are the objectives Intel has set for sustainability?

Every action we take is connected to our sustainable design. Intel wants to reduce the amount of energy, water, pollution, and waste that is produced during both present and future business activities.

Apart from our objectives to decrease our operational footprint, our corporate responsibility plan delineates the benchmarks we have established to diminish our value chain footprint and stimulates sector-wide endeavours to tackle climate change. In the case of our global operations, for example, we aim to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, 100% renewable electricity by 2030, net positive water by 2030, and zero trash to landfills by 2030. We are requesting that our supplier chain help us accomplish these objectives so they may then establish their own goals. 

These objectives expand on decades of development. We are having a big impact thanks to our sustainability approach and the alliances we are building with suppliers, customers, and governments.

What steps is Intel taking right now to cut carbon emissions?

We examine three emission scopes:

• First scope: Emissions from our own activities
• Scope 2: Emissions related to our usage of power
• Scope 3: Emissions originating from our value chain both upstream and downstream

Our decades-long efforts to replace chemicals, reduce emissions, promote energy conservation, reduce our reliance on natural gas, and acquire renewable energy sources must continue if we are to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across our global operations. We have reduced our emissions by 4 times as a result of these initiatives.

But in order to reach net-zero, we still need to find, develop, and test a lot of new green chemical and abatement techniques, many of which are not available yet. With a goal of 100%, we have now purchased 93% of the electricity from renewable sources worldwide. Since 2020, we have collectively saved over 970 million kWh of energy, which is equal to the annual electricity use of almost 90,000 houses in the United States.

In addition to developing ultra-efficient abatement and investigating technologies that significantly reduce the use of fossil fuels in our future factory designs, we are also expanding our systems to maximise the use of waste heat from our factories, thereby reducing our dependency on natural gas, while we are building new factories.

However, we need to address climate change as a group. Our strategy for lowering scope 3 supplier greenhouse gas emissions is collaborating with suppliers along the value chain of semiconductor production to create new technological solutions and aid in the shift to net zero.

We are collaborating with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Product Attribute to Impact Algorithm (PAIA) consortium to create standard calculation methodologies to report the product carbon footprint for our industry. We are also working with the Semiconductor Climate Consortium and Schneider Electric’s Catalyse programme to accelerate solutions to reduce our industry’s emissions.

The process of fabricating semiconductors uses a lot of water. In order to meet its net positive water target, how is Intel tackling the water issue?

Our water-saving initiatives over the last ten years are expected to have saved 52 billion gallons of water, which is enough to power 470,000 American households for a year. Over the last three years, we have increased our water conservation efforts by more than tripling. In order to satisfy the needs of our communities and our company, we are judiciously controlling our use of water, as directed by our Global Water Policy.

Our three major goals for our net positive water strategy are to reduce the amount of water we use in our operations, work with local communities on water projects, and develop technological solutions that will enable people to rethink how they use and conserve water.

Our goal is to attain net positive water by funding projects that will replenish local watersheds with more fresh water than is consumed and by saving 60 billion gallons of water cumulatively starting in 2020. We anticipate using 12 billion gallons of water less this year for operations, partnerships with the community, and watershed restoration initiatives.

What is Intel‘s perspective on circularity, or the idea of cutting waste? 

According to this “circular economy” theory, materials and goods should be used for as long as feasible before being given a new lease of life. As a sector, we understand the need to cut waste and develop creative strategies for recovery, reuse, and upcycling. The use of circular economy ideas to our manufacturing processes and supply chain constitutes a fundamental component of our endeavour to minimise our operating footprint.

Construction and industry operations are the main sources of garbage in our environment. We’ve made excellent strides in upcycling materials throughout the entire company and will have recycled more than two-thirds of our manufacturing waste by 2022.

This entails recycling chemicals, metals, and solvents; it also entails cutting down on packaging waste and cooperating with suppliers to minimise e-waste and repurpose items that contain valuable metals. Using circular economy strategies to upcycle production waste, prolong the life of equipment and returned goods, recover materials, and use post-consumer recycled materials on transportation media requires a strong supply chain. Through the efforts of our whole supply chain, almost 77,000 metric tonnes of waste were prevented from ending up in landfills last year.

What lessons has Intel discovered while working towards environmentally friendly semiconductor production?

This is a difficult task. Companies don’t achieve net zero in a year or two, let alone in an instant. For many years, this massive objective has been a part of Intel’s journey, and we’re still working with stakeholders in the business, government, and academic sectors. It will take extensive research and development, teamwork across our value chain, and long-term innovation to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.

We keep moving closer to our environmental objectives every day by emphasising sustainability in a number of crucial semiconductor manufacturing areas. We’re coming up with innovative solutions to consume less water, power, and waste.

Our value chain is being steered towards sustainable computing, and we are testing environmentally friendly chemistry to provide substitutes for the solutions we now use to make semiconductors. Intel is setting the standard for environmentally friendly semiconductor production. Our expertise lies in addressing the most pressing global issues, and we are resolute in our efforts to contribute in this way.

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