Environment, Health & Safety

The U.S. semiconductor industry, one of the country’s top export sectors, is responsible for a fraction of one percent of U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to the EPA’s most recent  GHG Reporting Program data (2016).  The EPA data shows that out of 2,990 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (mmt CO₂e) emitted by industrial facilities in the U.S., only6.2 mmt CO₂e — or 0.2 percent — is emitted by electronics manufacturers, including semiconductor manufacturers.  Most of the industry’s emissions are associated with the use of fluorinated gases (F-gases) used in complex manufacturing processes, without which advanced semiconductor manufacturing is not technically feasible.

Although the industry contributes only a very small amount of GHG emissions, SIA and its members have been engaged in ongoing efforts to reduce these emissions.

• Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with EPA, SIA members voluntarily reported on their emissions of PFCs, a category of GHGs.  Under this agreement, SIA members reduced their collective absolute US emissions of F-gases by more than 35% since 1995; and down 50% from their peak in 1999.
• SIA and its members have participated in the efforts of the World Semiconductor Council (WSC) to reduce emissions of PFCs.  The global industry committed to a 10 percent reduction from a baseline year, and in 2011 the industry announced that it far surpassed this goal and achieved a reduction of 32 percent in absolute emissions.  To build on this success, the global industry is implementing a new 10-year reduction goal.

The process of manufacturing semiconductors in fabs relies on the highly controlled use of limited quantities of chemicals.  Some of these chemicals have been identified as posing environmental or health concerns, and the industry has responded by (a) researching alternatives to these chemicals, (b) phasing out non-essential uses, and (c) identifying substitutes in even critical uses.

For example, the industry previously used small amounts of Perfluorooctyl Sulfonates (PFOS) compounds, which have been critical ingredients in leading edge photoresists and antireflective coatings, materials used in the photolithographic process for imprinting circuitry on silicon wafers.  When governments identified these compounds as presenting environmental or health risks, SIA and its partners in the global industry responded to address these concerns.  In 2017, SIA and the WSC announced that industry had succeeded in eliminating all uses of PFOS.

Semiconductors are a foundation of modern computers, information technology, and communications products, and our products are also ubiquitous in advanced manufacturing processes, transportation systems, health care devices, building controls, energy generation equipment, and other sectors of the economy.  As a result, semiconductors are a key enabling technology to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption throughout the economy.  In short, semiconductors are a key part to addressing global climate change while also advancing economic growth.

According to a study by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE), the adoption of semiconductor-enabled technologies has resulted in significant energy savings throughout the economy.  Moreover, the study found that if new policies accelerated adoption of these technologies by just one percentage point per year, electricity demand in 2030 could be 1.2 trillion kilowatt-hours (kWh) lower than the Department of Energy’s reference case, a scenario that had already assumed substantial savings from implementation of semiconductor enabled efficiency applications compared to “frozen efficiency” case that posited continued reliance on today’s technologies.

The semiconductor industry has an outstanding safety record for workers at fabs.  SIA surveys its companies annually, and the incidents of injuries and illness in the semiconductor industry are well below the national average.

In addition, SIA has led efforts to study the health impacts of semiconductor manufacturing on cleanroom workers.  SIA commissioned an exhaustive, five-year epidemiological study conducted by researchers from Vanderbilt University that covered more than 100,000 semiconductor industry workers.  The findings of the study were published in Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and concluded:  “Work in the US semiconductor industry, including semiconductor wafer fabrication in cleanrooms, was not associated with increased cancer mortality overall or mortality from any specific form of cancer.”  The study also found no evidence of increased mortality from all causes or from all cancers when comparing employees working in cleanrooms to non-fabrication workers.