Online information source for semiconductor professionals

C. MARK MELLIAR-SMITH, International SEMATECH, Austin, TX, USA

ABSTRACT

The semiconductor industry has become one of the most important industries in the global economy. Global revenues now exceed $200B and the annual growth rate of 15% is much higher than the economy as a whole (3–4%) or even other fast growing industries such as electronics (9%). In addition, the industry has a very high “value add” component – in other words, most of the value is generated inside the industry through its own design and manufacturing – as opposed to repackaging the work of others. In fact, in the United States, the semiconductor industry has the highest manufacturing value add of any of the industry segments defined by the US government. Finally it is worth mentioning that semiconductors also provide the foundation for much of the high-tech industries such as PCs, the Internet, wireless communications and multiple consumer products. Not only has this powered the enormous economic growth of the past decade, but also the productivity improvements in the semiconductor industry have been a major factor in restraining inflation in the developed world over the same period. Such is the importance of this industry that it is crucial that its growth, both technical and commercial, be unhindered in the future, and for this reason environmental, safety and health excellence is vital. Either a short-term crisis, or a longer-term concern, in EHS is probably one of the greatest risks that we face, and it must continue to be addressed with the highest priority. The particular challenges we face arise from both the rapid growth of the industry, which places increasing emphasis on resource conservation, and secondly, the rapid technology advances which have brought increasing numbers of new materials into the industry. The industry has made excellent progress in the past in terms of maintaining the safety of its employees and the health of the environment. The occupational safety record of the industry is excellent relative to other industries, major progress has been made in the reduction of energy and water used per wafer processed, and the commitment to reduce the amount of perfluorocarbons released into the atmosphere over the next ten years is very aggressive. These improvements have been made as a result of major industry investments in R&D and equipment, but as we move into the future the ESH challenges the industry faces will continue to grow.