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A new Environment, Safety & Health (ESH) Technology Center has been established by International SEMATECH Manufacturing Initiative (ISMI) in Austin, Texas that will focus on a range of ‘green’ semiconductor manufacturing initiatives. Key focus will be energy consumption reduction, lower costs, and greater productivity in semiconductor manufacturing with the use of environmentally beneficial technologies and procedures. The ESH Technology Center will also be open to all IC manufacturers as well as equipment and materials manufacturers.

“Given the global environmental challenges we face, we believe there is nothing more important than energy and resource conservation,” said Scott Kramer, Vice President of Manufacturing Technology at SEMATECH. “Our objective in launching the ESH Technology Center is to lead the effort to keep our industry’s manufacturing businesses productive, profitable, and sustainable, while significantly reducing the environmental footprint of manufacturing operations.”

“At the Center we will work through all levels of the supply chain to address the industry’s need for sustainability, productivity, and cost-effectiveness,” said Ron Remke, ISMI’s ESH Program Manager who will head the Center. “We’ll be a source of data-driven best practices to tackle the challenges of sustainable manufacturing and act as a proving ground for technology solutions.”

ISMI said that it would specifically target energy reduction in process equipment. The team has worked in these fields for 15 years with demonstrated successes in areas such as cleanroom HVAC optimization and programs that saw a 10-20 percent utility reduction by adopting best practices in ultrapure water recycle/reclaim.

Left to right: Tom Huang, Ron Remke, Steve Trammell, Mike Frisch, Laurie Beu and James Beasley