H ighlights

Roundtable Meeting with Stakeholders
Reducing the Environmental Impact of Semiconductor Production
Equipment
The Tokyo Electron Group regards reducing the environmental impact of its semiconductor production equipment delivered tocustomers’ factories as one of its major social responsibilities. We invited three people from semiconductor manufacturers who are
our customers to attend a roundtable meeting with our employees engaged in sales and equipment development. At the meeting,participants discussed the Group’s challenges and expectations from its customers, focusing on energy-saving equipment.

it contributed to energy efficiency and yield at your factory?

Sharing Information with Semiconductor
Manufacturers Is Essential for Developing EnergySaving Equipment

Mr. Kagino: Certainly there is a question of whether or not you can

Mr. Ibuka (TEL): In recent years, environment-conscious design

conductor manufacturers might not accept the same improve-has been attracting much attention. In particular, there are strong

ment method. There have been cases where an improvement ini-

demands for improvements in energy efficiency, and so the Tokyo

tiative that worked well at Factory A for a certain semiconductor man-Electron Group is trying to contribute to the earth and society by pro-ufacturer did not work or was not accepted at the same manufac-

viding more energy-efficient equipment. Today, we would like to ask

turer‘s Factory B. As the background to this, semiconductor pro-you, the users of our equipment, for your honest opinions. We

duction equipment is customized for each customer. However, I think

will incorporate your opinions into future product development.

that semiconductor manufacturers need to change their attitude

obtain that kind of information, and even if you did, other semi-

Mr. Kagino: The semiconductor industry is committed to reducing

to this.

its energy use in consideration of the environment. We, however,

Mr. Tsuru (TEL): Each customer’s factory has different needs

want to maintain the yield level while reducing our energy use.

regarding manufacturing methods and energy saving measures,

Accordingly, we started to improve the energy efficiency ofand we cannot provide a “one-fits-all” solution. If the customer

peripheral facilities first, including clean rooms and air condition-

can standardize the needs of all their factories and show them to us

ers, which will not exert much influence over the yield. If we promotewith other necessary information, we can press forward withthe use of energy-saving semiconductor production equipment in theenergy saving more easily. Do you think that will be possible?

essential manufacturing process, it might badly affect the yield,

Mr. Kagino: I think that’s the direction we must take from now on.

and so it is difficult for us to proceed. However, as we implemented
more energy-saving measures for air conditioners, the percentage of

Promoting Energy Saving for Existing Equipment

the total energy use that the production equipment accounted for

Mr. Sakaguchi (TEL): We manufacture and deliver new equip-

became more significant. The equipment is powered on evenment mainly to new factories. However, there are machines that wewhile it is not used for manufacturing semiconductors and thisdelivered in the past and are currently in use at customers’ factories

standby electricity is indeed a waste of energy. However, we cannot(“existing equipment”) and the number of those machines is

proceed with countermeasures, because it might lower the yield. I

more than ten times the number of new machines being deliv-

believe it is necessary for semiconductor manufacturers andered to new factories. For this reason, we think it necessary tosemiconductor production equipment manufacturers to cooperate

focus on reducing the energy being used by existing equipment.

together to reduce energy use in the semiconductor manufacturing

However, it will need time, labor, and money to improve existingprocess.

equipment. Would you give us your ideas on energy-saving measures

Mr. Yamanaka (TEL): It seems difficult to obtain yield-related

for existing equipment?

information from semiconductor manufacturers. For example, if

Mr. Kagino: As a semiconductor manufacturer, we can imple-

we supplied improved equipment to you, would you let us know how

ment energy-saving measures from two aspects: (1) to reduce the

8 TOKYO ELECTRON Environmental and Social Report 2006

total energy use and (2) to reduce the energy use per unit of production. The semiconductor industry is on a growth trend and so its
energy use is increasing. It would therefore be difficult to reduce thetotal energy use. We have announced reductions in energy use
per unit of production, i.e., per wafer or per semiconductor chip. In
the future, however, we need to implement measures to reduce thetotal energy use, and the most effective way to do this is to make
improvements to existing equipment. There may be a greaterneed to improve existing equipment than to provide new equipment. In my opinion, the best way to improve existing equipment is
to apply the ideas used in new equipment to existing equipment. I
would like you, as a manufacturer of semiconductor production

Mr. Tada: How about recovering all the emissions, an idea that is

equipment, to keep this in mind in developing new equipment,

now attracting much attention? It might be necessary to install a sep-

and to propose effective methods of improving existing equip-

arate pipe, but it would be worth the cost if we could recover andment.

recycle all the emissions, including fluorinated acid.

Mr. Sakaguchi (TEL): We do not have a clear picture of the semiconductor market in this respect. If we are assured that semiconductor manufacturers are willing to spend money for energy-saving

Contributing to Higher Energy Efficiency throughSemiconductors

equipment, we can launch a special task force to tackle this,Mr. Tada: It would be relatively easy to improve the energy efficiency

because it will be feasible as a business model. In this case, how-of equipment by 20 to 30%. However, I want semiconductor pro-

ever, as discussed earlier, we need to make customized responses

duction equipment manufacturers to completely review theirto each manufacturer and to each factory. If we can overcome

development concept to come up with a technology that can sub-this problem, I think we can provide you with a satisfactory solution.

stantially reduce the energy used by their products.

Mr. Kagino: I believe each manufacturer thinks it necessary to

Mr. Kagino: I agree with you. It might be possible to reduce thereduce the energy used by existing equipment. However, if weenergy that semiconductor production equipment consumes byimplement energy-saving measures focusing on existing equip-

50% from the present levels. I would like equipment manufacturers

ment, it will take time and labor and those measures may not be

to rack their brains to come up with energy-saving technologies

practical. As I said earlier, I wonder if it is possible to adapt the ener-

for components, for example, by examining the interrelationshipgy-saving technology used in new equipment to improving existing

between the electrode structure and exhaust emissions.

equipment. It would be wonderful if the cost of doing this could be

Mr. Ibuka (TEL): You said that energy use per wafer is decreasing

included in the cost of developing new equipment to keep thewhile total energy use is increasing. Towards the future, we mustcost of improving existing equipment low. I would like to havemake efforts to contribute to higher energy efficiency for society at

existing equipment improved at the time it is overhauled, without

large by promoting the use of semiconductors, instead of just pro-spending too much time and money for it.

viding energy-saving equipment. To this end, semiconductor man-Mr. Tada: It costs a lot to improve the peripheral pipes and if it is pos-ufacturers and semiconductor production equipment manufacturers

sible to implement energy-saving measures concurrently withneed to cooperate.

pipe improvements, we can afford to pay the extra cost. To do

Mr. Tada: I am the leader of the LCA* working group at the Japan

this, we need to cooperate with the department in charge of facto-

Electronics and Information Technology Industries Associationry facility management.

(JEITA). We use LCA to calculate the total environmental impact of

Mr. Takahashi: With regard to factory facilities, in order to reduce

semiconductors. It is true that manufacturing semiconductors has an

exhaust gas emissions with high global warming coefficients, we

impact on the environmental because the process consumes

need a device to recycle and reuse the gas.

large amounts of energy. Semiconductors, however, also contribute to reducing the use of energy when incorporated in state-ofthe-art products used by consumers. We would like to calculate boththe positive and negative impact of semiconductors with LCA.
* LCA: Life cycle assessment is a method developed to assess a
product’s full environmental impact throughout its lifecycle,
from procurement of materials to disassembly and disposal.

TOKYO ELECTRON Environmental and Social Report 2006

9

Minoru Kagino

Kazuhiro Tada

Kenji Takahashi

Munetsugu Yamanaka

Hajime Komatsu

Semiconductor Company
Toshiba Corporation

Elpida Memory, Inc.

Renesas Technology
Corporation

Development Planning Dept.
Tokyo Electron Limited

ESD Quality Assurance 2 Dept.
Tokyo Electron AT Limited

Complying with the SEMI S23 Guide* as an Industry
Standard
Mr. Komatsu (TEL): I am in charge of EHS for the Group’s factories.
In the past, we endeavored to reduce our own energy use. In
addition, we have now started to design environment-friendly
products. However, it is difficult for a factory to pursue productivity
and environment-friendliness at the same time. I am glad that I
can listen to invaluable opinions directly from semiconductor manufacturers today. Maybe we should do more comparison of energy
consumption for different types of equipment in addition to developing component technologies and building a new businessmodel. If semiconductor production equipment manufacturers canshow customers comparative data on the energy their equipment

manufacturers, regards the Guide as an industry standard.

uses, i.e. how much it consumes under standard specifications

Mr. Kagino: Specifications vary depending upon the manufacturing

and standard conditions, customers can decide which equipment toprocess. For energy saving, however, we want equipment manu-

buy, and this will lead to further energy saving.

facturers to promote relevant measures based on common criteria.

Mr. Kagino: That’s exactly what we were aiming at. The SEMI

All semiconductor manufacturers want to promote energy saving if

S23 Guide has already incorporated comparative indicators, and if

it doesn’t have harmful effects on yield. If equipment manufacturers

every equipment manufacturer refers to S23 in deciding the speci-

voluntarily comply with the S23 Guide as an industry standard,

fications of their equipment, semiconductor manufacturers cansemiconductor manufacturers will be able to accept it more easily.

easily compare and choose equipment from different equipment

Mr. Yamamoto (TEL): We would like to set an industry standard for

manufacturers.

energy saving, but it will be difficult to implement it without coop-

Mr. Ibuka (TEL): It is also important for larger numbers of semi-

eration from the semiconductor manufacturers. In many cases,

conductor manufacturers to demand that the semiconductor pro-semiconductor manufacturers eventually choose equipment

duction equipment manufacturers comply with S23. If the number ofbased on its cost. Some customers even tell us to remove thesemiconductor manufacturers who demand this increases, theenergy-saving function to lower the cost.

cost of the compliance imposed on equipment manufacturers will be

Mr. Kagino: However, once the function has become a standard, it

smaller. So in a sense it is up to the semiconductor manufacturers.

would be rather costly to remove it. I want the function to be truly

Mr. Ishida (TEL): It would be easier for us to comply with the S23

standardized.

Guide if the semiconductor industry as a whole, not just individual

10 TOKYO ELECTRON Environmental and Social Report 2006

Tomohiko Sakaguchi

Yuuichi Yamamoto

Seiki Ishida

Motohiro Tsuru

Joji Hoshi

Shigehito Ibuka

Etch Systems Dept.
Tokyo Electron Limited

Clean Track Dept.
Tokyo Electron Limited

Clean Track Development
Dept.
Tokyo Electron Kyushu Limited

Clean Track System Design
Dept.
Tokyo Electron Kyushu Limited

Environment, Health & Safety
CenterTokyo Electron Limited

Environment, Health & Safety
CenterTokyo Electron Limited

Mr. Tada: It might be better to incorporate the energy-saving
function as an integral part of the equipment.
Mr. Tsuru (TEL): If the S23 Guide is more widely accepted as a standard, we will be able to promote energy saving more smoothly.
Mr. Kagino: Semiconductor manufacturers belonging to JEITA
will all be adopting the S23 Guide in the near future. So it will be ideal
if semiconductor manufacturers and semiconductor production
equipment manufacturers cooperate to improve the S23 Guideand make it an industry standard.
*SEMI S23: Guide for Conservation of Energy, Utilities andMaterials Used by Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment(prepared by the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials
International (SEMI))

Also, JEITA has established a system to compare products using

Environment-Friendliness Now An Essential Elements

LCA. For equipment as well, systems for standardization and

Mr. Kagino: Environment-friendliness, including energy saving,comparison will be established. I expect that the S23 Guide will pro-has been increasingly importance for equipment. At our company, wevide the driving force for the spread of energy-saving equipment, andimplement environmental assessment in developing products.

that semiconductor production equipment manufacturers will

We do not commercialize any products unless they have higher

make more efforts towards saving energy.

environmental efficiency than previous models. I think that somesemiconductor manufacturers will buy energy-saving equipmentthat uses only half the amount of energy used by ordinary equipment
and has equal performance, even if it costs more.
Mr. Tada: We are attributing more importance to energy saving. In
the past, we didn’t compare how much energy different types ofequipment consumes when we chose equipment from among
multiple products, but now, in addition to performance, we haveincluded energy consumption among the selection criteria.
Mr. Takahashi: Semiconductor manufacturers are all implementing
environmental assessment on their products. They are committed toreducing their environmental impact using comprehensive indicators.

In response to the roundtable meeting
We invited representatives from Toshiba, Elpida Memory,

carry out in-depth studies, including deciding on specificand Renesas Technology, which are our customers, to amethods. Also, the meeting highlighted the importance ofroundtable meeting. This meeting gave a great opportunity

identifying how much energy our products use based on theto our staff engaged in marketing, design, development, andSEMI S23 Guide, thereby promoting higher energy efficiency

EHS to exchange information on energy-saving semiconductor

and lower energy consumption. To meet customers’ expecta-

production equipment with customers. We will continue totions and gain their trust in this, we will continue to take asolicit our customers’ opinions and incorporate them inleadership role in the industry.

design and development.
As for customers’ requests to apply improvement technologies used in new equipment to existing equipment, we willof Environment,
Masaki Kaneko Director
Health & Safety CenterTokyo Electron Limited

TOKYO ELECTRON Environmental and Social Report 200611