Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Developing a parametric carbon footprinting tool for the semiconductor industry

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The advent of global awareness of sustainable development resulted in consumer demand for low-carbon electronic products. Thus, semiconductor industry has to develop additional core competencies in that direction to remain competitive. The present study aims to establish a parametric-based tool that can identify key parameters of the complicated manufacturing processes in the semiconductor industry to simplify the calculation of the carbon footprint of products (CFP). Six regression models for CFP were developed by applying process and statistical analyses on 7114 wafer products. Results indicate that these regression models with the three key parameters (mask layer, metal layer, and technology node) can effectively predict the CFP of wafer with six different function types because the adjusted R 2 of all regression models was >0.5. Moreover, the mask layer could be the most important parameter for predicting CFP of wafer because of its higher standardized coefficients (β) in each regression model. This methodology reduces the time, cost, and information requirements of the product in traditional life cycle assessment. The proposed method introduces criteria for low-carbon decision making in the semiconductor sector.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Andrae ASG, Andersen O (2011) Life cycle assessment of integrated circuit packaging technologies. Int J Life Cycle Assess 16(3):258–267

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Boyd SB (2012) Life-cycle assessment of semiconductors. Springer, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Boyd SB, Dornfeld D, Krishnan N. (2006) Life cycle inventory of a CMOS chip. In: Proceedings of the 2006 IEEE international symposium on electronics and the environment May 8-11-2006, Scottsdale, AZ, USA

  • Boyd SB, Horvath A, Dornfeld D (2009) Life-cycle energy demand and global warming potential of computational logic. Environ Sci Technol 43(19):7303–7309

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Boyd SB, Horvath A, Dornfeld D (2010) Life-cycle assessment of computational logic produced from 1995 through 2010. Environ Res Lett 5(1):014011

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • British Standards Institution (BSI) (2011) PAS 2050:2011 specification for the assessment of the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of goods and services. Br Stand Inst, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Chang P, Tsai C (2002) Finding the niche position-competition strategy of Taiwan’s IC design industry. Technovation 22(2):101–111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chien C, Hsu C, Chang K (2013) Overall wafer effectiveness (OWE): a novel industry standard for semiconductor ecosystem as a whole. Comput Ind Eng 65(1):117–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chung S, Lee AHI, Huang C, Chuang C (2008) Capacity pricing mechanism for wafer fabrication. Comput Ind Eng 55(3):647–662

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coenders G, Saez M (2000) Collinearity, heteroscedasticity and outlier diagnostics in regression. Do they always offer what they claim? New Approach Appl Stat, Metodološki Zvezki 16:79–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Dessouky Y, Patel MH, Kaosamphan T (2011) Computing the carbon footprint supply chain for the semiconductor industry: a learning tool. In: Proceedings of the 41st international conference on computers and industrial engineering (CIE41) October 23-26-2011, Los Angeles, CA, USA

  • Digas BV, Rozenberg VL, Kuklin AA (2014) A new version of integrated assessment model MERGE. Int J Environ Res 8(4):1231–1240

    Google Scholar 

  • Galli A, Wiedmann T, Ercin E, Knoblauch D, Ewing B, Giljum S (2012) Integrating ecological, carbon and water footprint into a “footprint family” of indicators: definition and role in tracking human pressure on the planet. Ecol Ind 16:100–112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gelman A, Stern H (2006) The difference between “significant” and “not significant” is not itself statistically significant. Am Stat 60(4):328–331

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guo C, Jiang Z, Zhang H, Li N (2012) Decomposition-based classified ant colony optimization algorithm for scheduling semiconductor wafer fabrication system. Comput Ind Eng 62(1):141–151

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harland J, Reichelt T, Yao M (2008) Environmental sustainability in the semiconductor industry. In: Proceedings of the 2008 IEEE international symposium on electronics and the environment May 19-22-2008, San Francisco, CA, USA

  • Higgs T, Cullen M, Yao M, Stewart S (2009) Developing an overall CO2 footprint for semiconductor products. In: Proceedings of the 2009 IEEE international symposium on sustainable systems and technology (ISSST) May 18-20-2009, Phoenix, AZ, USA

  • Higgs T, Cullen M, Yao M, Stewart S (2010) Review of LCA methods for ICT products and the impact of high purity and high cost materials. In: Proceedings of the 2010 IEEE international symposium on sustainable systems and technology (ISSST) May 17-19-2010, Arlington, VA, USA

  • Hsu C, Hu AH (2008) Green supply chain management in the electronic industry. Int J Environ Sci Technol 5(2):205–216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hsu C, Kuo RJ, Chiou C (2014) A multi-criteria decision-making approach for evaluating carbon performance of suppliers in the electronics industry. Int J Environ Sci Technol 11(3):775–784

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu AH, Huang C, Yin J, Lin P (2012) Development of a simplified carbon footprinting methodology for the semiconductor Industry. In: Proceedings of the electronics goes green 2012 + joint international congress and exhibition September 9-12-2012, Berlin, Germany

  • Hu AH, Huang C, Yin J, Wang H, Wang T (2013a) Developing a parametric carbon footprinting tool: a case study of wafer fabrication in the semiconductor industry. In: Proceedings of the 20th CIRP international conference on life cycle engineering April 17-19-2013, Singapore

  • Hu AH, Huang C, Yin J, Wang H (2013b) Developing a parametric carbon footprinting tool for integrated circuit package technologies. In: Proceedings of the EcoDesign 2013 symposium December 4-6-2013, Jeju Island, Korea

  • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2001) Good practice guidance and uncertainty management in national greenhouse gas inventories: PFC, HFC, NF3 and SF6 emissions from semiconductor manufacturing. http://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/gp/bgp/3_6_PFC_HFC_NF3_SF6_Semiconductor_Manufacturing.pdf. Accessed 30 April 2014

  • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007) Climate change 2007: synthesis report. https://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr.pdf. Accessed 30 April 2014

  • International Organization for Standardization (ISO) (2013) ISO/TS 14067: greenhouse gases—carbon footprint of products—requirements and guidelines for quantification and communication (technical specifications). International Organization for Standardization, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolk A, Pinkse J (2004) Market strategies for climate change. Eur Manag J 22(3):304–314

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar PR (1994) Scheduling semiconductor manufacturing plants. IEEE Control Syst 14(6):33–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuo T (2013) The construction of a collaborative framework in support of low carbon product design. Robot Comput Integr Manuf 29(4):174–183

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lam HL, Varbanov PS, Klemeš JJ (2010) Minimising carbon footprint of regional biomass supply chains. Resour Conserv Recycl 54(5):303–309

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lash J, Wellington F (2007) Competitive advantage on a warming planet. Harvard Business Review, Boston, pp 94–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu C, Lin S, Lewis C (2010) Life cycle assessment of DRAM in Taiwan’s semiconductor industry. J Clean Prod 18(5):419–425

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mason SJ, Fowler JW, Carlyle WM (2002) A modified shifting bottleneck heuristic for minimizing total weighted tardiness in complex job shops. J Sched 5(3):247–262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meinrenken CJ, Kaufman SM, Ramesh S, Lackner KS (2012) Fast carbon footprinting for large product portfolios. J Ind Ecol 16(5):669–679

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mittlböck M (2002) Calculating adjusted R2 measures for Poisson regression models. Comput Methods Programs Biomed 68(3):205–214

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murphy CF, Kenig GA, Allen DT, Laurent J, Dyer DE (2003) Development of parametric material, energy, and emission inventories for wafer fabrication in the semiconductor industry. Environ Sci Technol 37(23):5373–5382

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Potts T (2010) The natural advantage of regions: linking sustainability, innovation, and regional development in Australia. J Clean Prod 18(8):713–725

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Song J, Lee K (2010) Development of a low-carbon product design system based on embedded GHG emissions. Resour Conserv Recycl 54(9):547–556

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sundarakani B, de Souza R, Goh M, Wagner SM, Manikandan S (2010) Modeling carbon footprints across the supply chain. Int J Prod Econ 128(1):43–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taiariol F, Fea P, Papuzza C, Casalino R, Galbiati E, Zappa S (2001) Life cycle assessment of an integrated circuit product. In: Proceedings of the 2001 IEEE international symposium on electronics and the environment May 7-9-2001, Denver, CO, USA

  • Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE), Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) (2009) Product category rules (PCR) for Preparing an environmental product declaration (EPD) for integrated circuits, version 1.0. http://pcr-library.edf.org.tw/data/taiwan/ENG_IC_PCR_1122.pdf. Accessed 30 April 2014

  • Toktay LB, Uzsoy RA (1998) Capacity allocation problem with integer side constraints. Eur J Oper Res 109(1):170–182

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Villard A, Lelah A, Brissaud D, Mantelli M (2012) An eco-design tool for manufacturers of semiconductor technologies: looking for environmental opportunities in the design phase. In: Proceedings of the 2012 IEEE international symposium on sustainable systems and technology (ISSST) May 16-18-2012, Boston, MA, USA

  • Wang C, Chiu C (2014) Competitive strategies for Taiwan’s semiconductor industry in a new world economy. Technol Soc 36:60–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiedmann T, Minx J (2008) A Definition of ‘Carbon Footprint’. In: Pertsova CC (ed) Ecological economics research trends, chap 1. Nova Science Publishers, New York, pp 1–11

  • Wu S, Shih H, Lin B (2006) Agile strategy adaptation in semiconductor wafer foundries: an example from Taiwan. Technol Forecast Soc Change 73(4):436–451

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yao MA, Wilson AR, McManus TJ, Shadman F (2004) Comparative analysis of the manufacturing and consumer use phases of two generations of semiconductors. In: Proceedings of the 2004 IEEE international symposium on electronics and the environment May 10-13-2004, Washington, DC, USA

  • Yin J, Wang H, Wang T, Hu AH, Huang C (2013) A process-based and simplified carbon footprint model for customized semiconductor products. In: Proceedings of the SESHA 35th annual international high technology ESH symposium and exhibition March 18-22-2013, Long Beach, CA, USA

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work is financially supported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan under Grant Number 100-EC-17-A-10-I9-0001.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Environmental Engineering and Management, National Taipei University of Technology (Taipei Tech), No. 1, Sec. 3, Zhongxiao E. Rd., Da’an District, Taipei City, 106, Taiwan, ROC

    C.-Y. Huang & A. H. Hu

  2. Department of Environmental Protection Engineering, United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), No. 3, Lixing 2nd Rd., East District, Hsin-chu City, 300, Taiwan, ROC

    J. Yin & H.-C. Wang

Authors
  1. C.-Y. Huang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. A. H. Hu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. J. Yin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. H.-C. Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. H. Hu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Huang, CY., Hu, A.H., Yin, J. et al. Developing a parametric carbon footprinting tool for the semiconductor industry. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 13, 275–284 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-015-0869-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-015-0869-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation