Skip to content

Explore more about Sustainability

All

    Blue and clear sky above the trees

    Reducing Greenhouse
    Emissions through
    Sustainability Efforts

    We’re minimizing
    greenhouse gases
    until we hit zero

    We’re minimizing
    greenhouse gases
    until we hit zero

    We’re minimizing greenhouse gases until
    we hit zero

    Journey for sustainability

    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 willingly
    researches and develops
    ways to reduce emissions.

    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.

    Samsung Semiconductor’s RCS is the first and only large-capacity, integrated greenhouse gas treatment facility in the semiconductor industry.

    Samsung Semiconductor’s RCS is the first and only large-capacity, integrated greenhouse gas treatment facility in the semiconductor industry.

    What are the
    advantages of
    treating process gas via RCS?

    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 2021.

    6.03 million tons of carbon emissions reduced in 2021

    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 2021, Samsung Semiconductor mitigated approximately 6.03 million tons of greenhouse gas in total compared to the estimated emissions, thanks to greenhouse gas
    reduction projects, including
    improving the process gas treatment facility efficiency, shifting to high-efficiency facilities and streamlining
    the manufacturing processes.

    Estimated greenhouse gas
    reductions
    at Samsung Semiconductor Worksites

    Infographic showing a graph with three bars going up and to the right
    The Total amount of reduction
    (unit: 1,000 tons CO₂e)
    2018 2021

    Greenhouse gas reduction
    rate in 2021

    Pie chart infographic

    44%

    Renewable energy usage

    0.1%

    Other

    12%

    Manufacturing
    process efficiency

    1%

    Facility operation
    efficiency

    43%

    Process gas
    treatment

    Reducing process gas
    from
    semiconductor manufacturing
    also means reducing carbon emissions.

    Reducing semiconductor
    process gas

    • Using less process gas reduces
      greenhouse gas
    • Higher process gas treatment efficiency Achieving 95% or more through RCS
    • Alternative gas with low global warming potential replaced PFCs in several product processes

    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. For starters, we are applying optimal processing time to use less process gas. 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.

    We also endeavor
    to save energy
    consumed in the
    manufacturing
    process.

    Infographic with CO2 written on a cloud, two batteries and a factory

    Major efforts to reduce energy
    consumption

    • Optimizing capacity utilization such as HVAC, freezers, air compressors and pumps
    • Blocking moisture at cleanroom airlocks and adjusting outdoor air supply for pressurization
    • Installing auto cleaning equipment for condensers for higher freezer efficiency
    • Calibrating steam pressure for processing styrofoam molding machine

    Projects are tailored to each manufacturing site to reduce energy consumption.

    We endeavor
    to reduce
    electricity and
    natural gas consumption
    as well.

    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.

    Samsung Semiconductor
    has been working tirelessly
    to reduce     carbon
    emissions
    since 1999,
    and now,
    we are heading
    towards zero.

    • RCS technology
      treats
      process gas
      on the roof,
      with up to 95% treatment efficiency.

      Infographic showing the RCS treatment process: Pretreatment scrubber, RCS plant, post treatment scrubber, PFC scrubber and acid scrubber

      ① Pre-treatment
      scrubber

      ② RCS facility

      ③ Post-treatment
      scrubber

      ④ PFC scrubber

      ⑤ 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 corrosive 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, ⑤ After undergoing PFC scrubber and acid scrubber, the gas decomposed in the previous step is treated again to remove pollutants and be discharged into the air.

    Explore more about Sustainability

    All