The importance of semiconductor technology is so immense that it is almost impossible to imagine a world without them.
However, with the geometrical increase in the demand for semiconductors, came a bigger impact on nature and the environment.
At Samsung Semiconductors, we produce our cutting-edge technologies sustainably by carefully developing, discovering, and adopting eco-friendly technologies that reduce carbon emissions and head toward zero impact on nature.
Samsung Semiconductor has long been making efforts to reduce the greenhouse gas inevitably produced when manufacturing semiconductors. We have been voluntarily reducing fluorine gas (F-gas) since 1999, when semiconductor manufacturers around the world signed an agreement at the World Semiconductor Council (WSC) to carry on the goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In 2009, we installed and began the operation of an integrated greenhouse gas treatment facility to continue our efforts to reduce emissions. Since then, we’ve improved the treatment efficiency by expanding its use and developing catalysts.
The RCS (Regenerative Catalytic System) is a facility handling all the process gas with catalysts on the rooftop. By treating process gas at a low temperature,
Samsung Semiconductor’s RCS tends to use less fuel and emit fewer air pollutants compared to Point of Use (POU) facilities widely used by other manufacturers. We then went
a step further and developed a more durable catalyst for our RCS with up to 95% processing efficiency. Jointly developed with Samsung Engineering as a large-capacity integrated greenhouse gas treatment
facility in 2007, RCS was the first of its kind in the semiconductor industry to be applied in 2009, and has been in operation exclusively at
Samsung Semiconductor as of 2023.
In addition, we installed 16 process gas treatment facilities (RCS) in 4 production line buildings in 2023, and will continue to reduce our direct emissions by installing additional new RCS facilities on every line that is physically capable of installation.
Samsung Semiconductor focuses on treating process gas and expanding
the use of renewable energy to
reduce carbon emissions at worksites. Each worksite estimates its annual greenhouse gas
emissions, defines greenhouse gas mitigation tasks optimized to the manufacturing
process and develops and
implements reduction plans.
In 2023, we reduced a total of 10,059 thousand tons of greenhouse gases through greenhouse gas reduction projects, including the operation of process gas treatment facilities, use of renewable energy, improved process efficiency, and use of alternative gases.
Estimated greenhouse gas reductions at Samsung Semiconductor Worksites
Greenhouse gas reduction rate in 2023
Reducing semiconductor
process gas
To continuously reduce greenhouse gas,
Samsung Semiconductor has been carrying out tasks such as reducing process gas usage, improving treatment rate, using more renewable energy, saving energy consumption through efficient
processing, and others.
First, in order to reduce the usage of process gas, we are applying a recipe consisting of the optimal process time, process steps, etc. In addition, we developed catalysts for RCS that improves gas treatment efficiency from 90% to more than 95%,
ultimately increasing efficiency of the gas treatment facility. Furthermore, Samsung Semiconductor is also developing process gas with lower global warming potential. This alternative gas has been
developed to replace perfluorocarbons (PFCs), one of the most potent greenhouse gases, used in the four major semiconductor processing steps — etching, diffusion, chemical vapor deposition and
metallization. PFCs have been replaced in processing several products since 2018. Our efforts to research and develop alternative gas continue at the Samsung Semiconductor R&D Center.
Major efforts to reduce energy
consumption
Projects are tailored to each manufacturing site to reduce energy consumption.
To save electricity consumption,
we have been streamlining the manufacturing process, optimizing operations to reduce the number of main equipment testing, improving temperature conditions for auxiliary
facilities and implementing high-efficiency facilities. For natural gas, we have been trying to use a lower amount of liquified natural gas (LNG) by recapturing waste heat with a cooling water system and heat exchangers, and
adjusting air temperature and flow rate in outdoor air handling units.
① Pre-treatment
scrubber
② RCS facility
③ Post-treatment
scrubber
④ Primary acid
scrubber
⑤ Secondary acid scrubber
The RCS is a high-capacity treatment facility developed and used for the first time exclusively by Samsung Semiconductor. RCS is processed as follows: ① After being pre-treated with the scrubber, high-concentration acidic gas is processed. ② The processed gas is transferred to the RCS to undergo catalytic cracking, where the gas treated in Step ① is decomposed at a high temperature (750℃). Here, carbon tetrafluoride (CF4), a harmful gas, and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), a gas with 23,900x higher Global Warming Potential than CO₂, are treated. ③ Then, the scrubber used to remove residues from the semiconductor process is utilized to post-treat hydrogen fluoride (HF) from catalytic decomposition. ④ The acidic gas is first treated through the acid scrubber process in the cleaning facility, and ⑤ the acidic gas is secondarily treated to minimize air pollutant emissions and released into the atmosphere.
Registration Are you sure you want to submit this?
Your subscription is not active yet!
An email with an activation link
has just been sent to your email address.
Please activate your subscription by clicking on
the activation link inside the email.
You have already registered, but before we can send you the
information about upcoming events, we need your confirmation.
If you missed our previous email, please use the button below to resend it.
To activate your subscription, please click on the link included in the email.
EMEA
