Process-Oriented Design for Environment, Safety and Health for the Semiconductor Industry

Process-Oriented Design for Environment, Safety and Health for the Semiconductor Industry 
Bob Duffin – Motorola, Laura Mendicino – Motorola (SSA Journal Volume 10 Number 4 – Winter 1996 pp. 27 – 33 )

Traditional Design for Environment efforts have been focused on minimizing the impact of a product on the environment. The method generally used is the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) where the environmental impacts of all stages of a product (raw materials selection through final disposal of the product) are evaluated. For semiconductors, however, the greatest impact is not with the product itself but is rather with the manufacturing process to produce the semiconductor. Therefore, Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector (SPS) has adopted a process-oriented Design for Environment, Safety and Health (DFESH) program to empower engineers to consider the ESH impacts of their materials and processes at the earliest possible stage. Two self-instructed, interactive computer-based training courses are a result of this effort: Designer’s Guide to Clean Process Implementation (for equipment choice, process development, and implementation). These training guides provide the complementary tools that engineers need to evaluate the ESH impacts of their work. These tools are the Computerized Assessment of Relative Risk Impacts software (CARRI 0 developed by SEMATECH) and the Process Matrix. CARRI is a computerized risk-ranking model for the semiconductor industry that provides a consistent method to evaluate alternative chemicals and processes to determine their relative ESH impacts. The Process Matrix is a qualitative set of questions which guides the engineer through a series of ESH considerations for materials and processes and helps identify areas for improvement in the current process concept. These tools allow engineers to integrate ESH impacts with their standard design and development considerations like cost, yield and cycle time.