Opportunities for Efficiency in the Northwest Microelectronics Industry 1

Opportunities

for

Efficiency
2 Opportunities for Efficiency in the Northwest Microelectronics Industry

Prepared by

Chris Robertson, Chris Robertson and Associates

Jay Stein, E-Cube, Inc.

Karl Vischer, Bonneville Power Administration

Jeff Harris, Northwest Power Planning Council

Mark Cherniack, Chris Robertson and Associates

Mark Kendall, Oregon Office of Energy

Carlotta Collette, Northwest Power Planning Council

Designed by Stephen Sasser, Northwest Power Planning Council

All photographs by C. Bruce Forster except for the one on page 16, which is courtesy of Siemens Industries

Sponsored by

Bonneville Power Administration

Northwest Power Planning Council

Oregon Office of Energy

Contents:

I-AN INVITATION

II-GROWING AN INDUSTRY IN THE NORTHWEST

III-EFFICIENCY: THE FIRST STEP TO SUSTAINABILITY

IV-WHAT’S HOLDING BACK EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENTS?

V-STRATEGIES FOR COLLABORATIVE ACTION

VI-LET’S WORK TOGETHER

Opportunities for Energy Efficiency

in the

Northwest Microelectronics Industry

Page 3

Page 5

Page 9

Page 17

Page 19

Page 22
Opportunities for Efficiency in the Northwest Microelectronics Industry 3

T

o the outside world, it sometimes seems that the

microelectronics industry is expanding at the speed

of microprocessors. Nearly every day, newspapers

bring word of new technological breakthroughs, and

new fabricating plants are quickly constructed to bring

the new product line to an enthusiastic market.

In the Pacific Northwest – the “silicon forest” – this

has sparked tremendous economic growth. The microelectronics industry is now the region’s biggest employer, having overtaken the wood products and aerospace industries in 1994. These are good, mostly highpaying jobs, the kind of jobs most regions are trying to

attract.

But this growth can tax a region’s natural resources.

Microelectronics manufacturing facilities are both water

and energy intensive to operate. In fact, electricity is the

biggest operating expense in these facilities. The microelectronics industry has shown great interest in the

restructuring of the electricity industry because of

anticipated reductions in electricity rates. Those savings

are expected to amount to about 10 percent of the

microelectronics industry’s total electric bill.

This report will describe savings on the order of 50

percent off electricity bills. Similar efficiencies in water

use are also obtainable. And capital costs to build these

new, far more efficient fabricating plants can be lower

than it costs to build today’s average facility.

There are non-energy benefits to be gained, as well.

More efficient HVAC systems, for example, cost about a

third less than conventional systems, provide higher

filter efficiencies with slower air flows and enable better

contamination control. The result is better product

yields.

Who are we and

why do we care

about this?

This report is one of the

products that resulted from a

study of efficiency opportunities in the microelectronics

industry. The study, conducted

by Chris Robertson and

Associates, was sponsored by

the Bonneville Power Administration, this region’s federal

power marketing agency; the

Northwest Power Planning

Council, a resource planning

compact formed by the states

of Idaho, Montana, Oregon

and Washington; and the

Oregon Office of Energy.

These agencies called for

the study because they share

a concern for, and some

responsibility to protect, the

Northwest’s economy and its

environment. The consolidated microelectronics

industry, with its tremendous

growth in this region, can

have a powerful influence on

both of these.

I

n the Pacific Northwest, the

microelectronics industry is

growing faster than any other

industry. As it grows, it requires

significantly larger amounts of

electricity, as well as clean

water and other natural

resources. For example, over

the next decade, this industry

is projected to require

between 400 and 500

megawatts of additional

electricity from Northwest

power suppliers. That’s about

as much electricity as two new

natural gas-fired power plants

Continued on next page

– I –

AN

INVITATION
4 Opportunities for Efficiency in the Northwest Microelectronics Industry

B

ut the microelectronics industry, focused as it is on

constantly refining its products and bringing them to

the marketplace faster than competing firms, has yet to

exploit all the technological advances being made in the

energy-efficiency of facilities, production tools or processes. This report is written with the goal of helping to

change that.

The sponsors of this report – the Bonneville Power

Administration, the Northwest Power Planning Council

and the Oregon Office of Energy – would like to

encourage the microelectronics industry to take a

holistic approach to using all natural resources more

efficiently. This report, however, is specifically about

opportunities to use energy more efficiently. The energysaving strategies described here have been proven or

are under development. Many are being implemented

in plants in Asia and in Europe. They can be used in this

region, too.

P

lants that require only half as much energy as

competing plants have several key advantages. They

have better bottom lines and so can weather industry

downturns more effectively than their competitors. With

lower overhead, they can produce products more

profitably. And because they require only half the

natural resources of competing facilities, they will be

more readily welcomed by resource-conscious communities. In fact, their lower resource demands will mean

that more communities will have sufficient quantities of

clean water and electricity to support the plants, broadening the choice of areas in which to build. Their

efficient operation will help these plants remain good

neighbors.

This report is an invitation to build partnerships – to

bring together the microelectronics industry, the utility

and energy-efficiency industries, product manufacturers

and vendors, local communities, state and federal

governments, and others – to demonstrate these new

efficient strategies in the Pacific Northwest.

generate. We are interested in

reducing this new load as

much as possible through

improved energy efficiency to

help avoid the environmental

impacts associated with

energy production.

This region has considerable experience with securing

the same comfort levels or

better and producing the

same products or more using

far less electricity and other

natural resources. We have

learned that improved

resource efficiency also

improves productivity. Resource efficiency is the link

between meeting the needs of

a competitive microelectronics

industry and the need in the

Northwest for sustainable

industries that bring quality

jobs to our economy.
Opportunities for Efficiency in the Northwest Microelectronics Industry 5

T

he microelectronics industry has roots in the

Northwest that go back many years. Tektronix, an

industry pioneer and leader in the instrumentation,

graphics terminal and high resolution printer business

has had its headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, for

more than 20 years. Intel, now Oregon’s largest

employer and the world’s largest producer of computer

chips, designed and manufactured the 80286 chip out

of the company’s Hillsboro plant 15 years ago. Other

industry stalwarts, such as Hewlett-Packard, also have

had a long presence in the region.

T

oday, the Pacific Northwest’s abundant clean water,

low-cost electricity, skilled labor force, and targeted

property tax-abatement programs have combined to

push the region’s microelectronics industry toward

unprecedented growth. Industry forecasters concur that

in Oregon alone about $14 billion in new semiconductor facilities will be built between 1995 and 2004.

Some industry analysts say investments in facilities

across the entire Northwest microelectronics sector

might reach $20 billion in the same time period.

How did we do

this study?

The sponsors of this report

funded a study to examine the

following questions:

Are there significant opportunities to improve energy efficiency in the semiconductor

industry?

If such opportunities exist,

could strategies be identified to

transform how the industry

specifies, designs, and uses its

tools and facilities?

Is there an appropriate role

for partnerships that bring

together Northwest electric

utility interests, state and local

governments, and others to

work with the industry so it can

implement these energyefficiency strategies?

To answer these questions,

the study relied on existing

industry data and interviews

with key individuals in the

industry, as well as in government and research organizations. No new primary research

was conducted.

– II –

GROWING

AN INDUSTRY

IN THE

NORTHWEST
6 Opportunities for Efficiency in the Northwest Microelectronics Industry

Not only are a large number of new

plants being located in this region, but there

is also a very large existing industry base in a

number of key production segments. About

half of the silicon ingot production capacity

in the United States is located in the Northwest. Moreover, the Portland metropolitan

area is home to several of the largest design

and engineering firms specializing in chip

fabricating plants.

Taken together, the existing microelectronics industry, combined with recent and

projected industry growth, is creating fundamental changes in the economy of the Pacific

Northwest. The consolidated microelectronics industry already employs more people in

the Northwest than any other industry,

including traditionally dominant industries,

such as wood products, agriculture and

aerospace.

Structure of the microelectronics

industry

T

he microelectronics industry can be

viewed as a chain of several major

production steps. The Northwest is

fortunate to have most of these steps well

represented by companies operating in

this region. To better understand the

opportunities for efficiency in the industry,

a brief description of its structure follows.

Elemental silicon feedstock is refined

into a material known as “polysilicon,”

which is then melted in a furnace where

a single crystal silicon ingot is produced.

The ingot is then sliced into thin wafers

that are polished and treated before

being sold to chip producers. Roughly

half of all U.S. silicon crystal and wafer

production is located in the Pacific

Northwest, including companies such as

Wacker Siltronic, SEH America and

Mitsubishi Silicon America.
Opportunities for Efficiency in the Northwest Microelectronics Industry 7

I

n the next step in the process, chip

manufacturers take the polished wafers,

create integrated circuits on the wafer

surface, then slice the wafer into individual chips. These chips are tested,

assembled and packaged for sale to

circuit board manufacturers and electronic original equipment manufacturers

( OEMs). The Northwest is home to a

number of the world’s largest producers

of microcomputer chips, memory chips

and application-specific integrated

circuits (ASICs). Companies such as

Intel, Micron and LSI Logic all have

significant portions of their global production located in the Northwest.

The original equipment manufacturers

and circuit board manufacturers then sell

into the market for finished consumer

goods. Other prime buyers include

defense and aerospace companies.

Again, the Northwest has a number of

key domestic and foreign manufacturers

of electronics equipment, including

Hewlett-Packard and Tektronix. In addition, the Northwest is home to some very

key beneficiaries of the end-products of

Photograph of two workers (M & F)

holding a Pentium chip.

this industry, including the aerospace and

software industries, which are best represented by the giants Boeing and Microsoft in

the Seattle area.

A

closely related industry that uses some of

the same manufacturing technology is

the photovoltaic (“PV”) power systems

industry. This industry uses the same semiconductor equipment and processes to grow

single crystal silicon ingots, which are sliced

into wafers and then manufactured into

photovoltaic cells. The photovoltaic industry’s

growth rate in the next few years may substantially exceed the growth rate of the

traditional microelectronics industry. Projections describe global photovoltaic demand

ramping up from a current production level

of around 100 megawatts per year to

between 1,000 and 5,000 megawatts per

year in the next decade. The photovoltaic

industry in the Pacific Northwest is primarily

represented by Siemens Solar Industries, the

largest volume manufacturer in the world.
8 Opportunities for Efficiency in the Northwest Microelectronics Industry

Resource impacts of industry growth

A

lthough traditionally viewed as a light industry, the

microelectronics industry’s demands on the energy,

water and other natural resource infrastructures of local

communities are increasing rapidly. In particular, as the

capital investment in semiconductor manufacturing

plants has grown, so has the energy intensity of these

plants. New facilities can cost more than a billion

dollars and consume from 30 to 50 megawatts of peak

electrical capacity.

The increase in water usage has been equally

dramatic. New wafer and integrated circuit manufacturing plants can consume millions of gallons of water

every day; enough to serve communities of several

thousand households. A plant in Eugene, Oregon,

applied for permits to consume up to 10 percent of

Eugene’s entire municipal water supply, when the

plant’s three construction phases are completed.

Eugene has responded by accelerating plans to increase the capacity of the city’s water system.

Additional inputs to wafer and chip manufacturing

processes include high-purity graphite and quartz

products. These products are in tight supply, and they

also require large energy inputs to manufacture. As the

microelectronics industry grows, so do the industries

supplying these inputs. Large quantities of high-purity

gasses, such as nitrogen and hydrogen, also are

required and must be manufactured in energy-intensive

processes of their own.

So, while the Northwest has welcomed the growth of

the microelectronics industry, there has been growing

concern regarding the impacts on the region’s energy,

water and other resources.

Key Industry

Corporations in

the Pacific

Northwest

The Pacific Northwest is unique

in the range of companies

manufacturing products in

almost all sectors of the

industry. Major companies

include the following:

Polysilicon — Advanced

Silicon Materials, Komatsu

Silicon

Silicon Crystals/Wafers —

Komatsu Metals, Mitsubishi

Silicon America, SEH America,

Siemens Solar Industries,

Wacker Siltronic

Process Materials

Suppliers — Fujima Abrasives, Tokyo Ohka Kogyo,

Toshiba Ceramics, Toyo Tanso,

Semiconductor

Manufacturers — Adaptive

Solutions, Advanced Power

Technologies, Fujitsu, HewlettPackard, Hyundai Electronics,

Integrated Device Technology,

Intel, Lattice, Linear Technology,

LSI Logic, Micron, OKI Semiconductor, Sharp Microelectronics,

Tektronix, TriQuint

End Users — Epson, Fujitsu,

Hewlett-Packard, Interactive

Systems, Intel, NEC America,

Planar, Sequent, Sharp,

Tektronix, plus many others

Semiconductor Production Tool Manufacturers

— Production tool manufacturing is not centered in the

Northwest, but local vendors

and distributors of major

companies include: Applied

Materials, Genus, Lam ReContinued on next page
Opportunities for Efficiency in the Northwest Microelectronics Industry 9

he Northwest’s electricity policy over the last 15

years has been shaped by the belief that conserving

energy, through efficiency improvements, can be

more cost-effective and environmentally responsible than

building new power plants to meet new demands. The

same is almost certainly true of water supply. Our interest

is that new and existing microelectronics manufacturing

facilities are as efficient in their use of electricity and other

resources as is cost-effective. Although there are many

obstacles to accomplishing greater efficiency in the

industry, the industry has several characteristics that

could make efficiency improvements widely achievable:

lThe industry is concentrated in just a few dozen

semiconductor manufacturers, and a few hundred key

tool manufacturers and suppliers. These firms have

great opportunities to coordinate their efficiency efforts

through their associations, conferences, consortia and

research and development facilities.

lNew generations of chip technology are scheduled to

be developed every three years. Each new generation

requires new production tools and new fabrication

facilities. Consequently, each new generation affords an

opportunity to design for resource efficiency.

lThe industry’s conservatism in factory designs and

manufacturing processes could work in favor of efficiency. Once an efficient design is built, tested, and

proven, others plants can copy that design.

lIndustry overcapacity in a number of segments has

slowed new construction temporarily in the Pacific

Northwest, as it has elsewhere. This creates a brief

window of opportunity in which energy-efficiency

opportunities can be explored and implemented in

those plants that are planned but not yet built.

search, Varian and many

others. Some specialty tool

manufacturers do have their

headquarters here, including

Electro Scientific Industries.

Consulting

Engineering and Construction Firms — Major

Portland area firms with global

industry accounts include:

Hoffman Construction, Industrial Design Corporation and

Jacobs Engineering Group,

Inc. Industrial Design Corporation and Hoffman have formed

a subsidiary design/build

company called TDC

Construction.

T

– III –

EFFICIENCY:

THE FIRST STEP

TO

SUSTAINABILITY
10 Opportunities for Efficiency in the Northwest Microelectronics Industry

What’s in it for you?

One of the world’s largest microelectronics companies, SGS-THOMSON

Microelectronics of Italy, has a new company policy about resource efficiency. It was

summarized by the company’s director of

corporate environment strategies, Fabio R.

Borri, in his report, “Environment: A New

Industrial Parameter.” “We consider that

environmental performance is a basic

ingredient for product quality and company

reputation; the business benefit is that

managing for natural resource efficiency

and clean processes is one of the greatest

engines of productivity improvement.” SGSTHOMSON’s efficiency motto is: “Ecology is

Free.”

The fact is, ecology pays. Better

designed facilities, tools and processes can

cost less, not more, to build and operate.

According to Lee Eng Lock of

Supersymmetry Services, a more efficient

HVAC system costs about 30 percent less

than conventional systems, is more reliable,

and has less wear and tear on components

due to lower pressures and slower airflow.

Lee maintains that this design improves filter

efficiency, which could reduce particle

contamination – a key concern in the

microelectronics industry. The likelihood of

reduced contamination from improved filter

efficiency needs further study and documentation.

Designs that incorporate total resource

efficiency also have a tendency to save

time and improve productivity. For

example, new lighting technologies use a

single, very-efficient light source that can be

“piped” to “outlets” in other areas, including

clean rooms. These technologies provide

uniform, high-quality illumination, but the

lighting source is located outside the clean

room environment. Substantial improvements in lighting efficiency are possible

using concentrated daylight or new lighting

sources, such as sulfur lamps. At the same

time, having the light source located outside

the clean room reduces down time by

eliminating clean room lamp replacement

routines. The result is higher productivity at

the plant.

Leaner operations also are more likely to

survive industry cycling. In periods of

excess capacity, for example, the plants

with the highest operating costs will tend

to be taken out of production first. Plants

that continue to operate through peaks

and troughs, because they run efficiently,

are among the most prized assets of any

corporation and any community.

Ultimately, it may be that local communities benefit most from industrial

efficiency. While it’s true that most communities will compete to attract large,

stable employers, the high water and

energy demands of conventional microelectronics fabricating facilities could

narrow the selection of communities with

sufficient resources. Such resource constraints could limit corporate expansion.

Companies that can demonstrate their

environmental responsibility will be welcome throughout the world.
Opportunities for Efficiency in the Northwest Microelectronics Industry 11

EFFICIENCY OPPORTUNITIES IN

MICROPROCESSOR FABRICATING

PLANTS

A

mong the most expensive of modern industrial

systems, large, new microprocessor fabricating

plants, called “fabs,” cost on the order of $1.0 to $1.5

billion each. Industry observers suggest a third of the

capital cost is for the clean room and supporting facilities, and the remaining two thirds pays for production

tool systems and equipment. As plant sizes grow and

become more complex, they require more new energy

services. The average cost of typical new fabs that were

looked at for this report came to $1.2 billion, and

projected energy use at the plants ranged from 30 to

50 megawatts.

T

he $14 billion in new facilities planned for Oregon

could represent approximately 400 to 500 megawatts of new electrical load to be served. Over the next

decade, microprocessor fabricating plants in the entire

Northwest could require 600 or more megawatts of new

energy supplies.

Fabs impose large, relatively constant, long-term

electric loads on utility systems. This electricity represents

a significant portion of the facility operating cost of a

What is the

microelectronics

industry doing to

improve energy

efficiency?

Historically, this industry has

not emphasized energy efficiency, but that appears to be

changing. The industry, through

its research consortium,

SEMATECH, and several

engineering firms and manufacturers are moving energy

efficiency to a higher priority. For

example:

lThe SEMATECH Environment,

Safety and Health (ESH)

Program initiated and is sponsoring an international facility

energy audit and benchmarking

program.

lSGS-THOMSON Microelectronics, whose corporate motto is

Continued on next page
12 Opportunities for Efficiency in the Northwest Microelectronics Industry

fabricating plant. Table 1, (adapted from SEMATECH

data with permission) illustrates operating cost data from

three different fabs. The three differ in size, ranging from

60,000 to 372,000 square feet. Electricity costs are the

single greatest facility operating cost component in two of

the three plants, eclipsing both labor and materials costs.

In the largest fabricating plant, which corresponds to the

scale of a typical new fabricating plant, the electric bill

was about $22 million per year, more than 40 percent of

total operating costs (“operating cost” excludes the

capitalized cost of land and buildings). Electric bills

greater than $1 million per month are common for large

fabs.

“Ecology is Free,” has adopted

an internal environmental

management and audit scheme

with the intention of becoming

the “greenest” chip producer in

the world.

lSeveral firms in the facility

design and construction field are

exploring energy-efficient

designs.

lSeveral semiconductor

manufacturers have initiated

senior management reviews of

the role of energy efficiency.

lAt least one design firm

(Supersymmetry Services) has

integrated energy efficiency into

an integrated systems approach

to clean room design and has

built facilities that have won

international awards.

lIn Portland, Oregon, two firms

(LSI Logic and Fujitsu) have

agreed, as a condition of

property tax abatements under

Oregon’s strategic investment

program, to implement “exemplary environmental management plans” that include energy,

water and resource efficiency

components.

lIn the semiconductor industry

transition from 200 to 300

millimeter wafers, the industry

has defined design protocols to

improve resource efficiency of

the next generation of manufacturing tools.

lCypress Semiconductor Corp.

and Hewlett-Packard have

recently become “Climate

Wise” partners in the voluntary

climate change effort initiated by

President Clinton.
Opportunities for Efficiency in the Northwest Microelectronics Industry 13

Efficiency example: Improving

clean room HVAC efficiency

I

n a workshop sponsored by the Northwest Power Planning

Council, opportunities to integrate efficiency in the design of new fabricating

plant HVAC systems were reported to

save 70 percent or more of total HVAC

energy use, with reductions in capital cost

of up to one third. Similar results were

reported by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in a recent study of

research facilities in California. Benefits

from this integrated design approach go

well beyond reduced energy costs. Energy-efficient design can also improve

reliability, while reducing wear and tear

on other components, such as filters,

fans, pumps and motors. The improved

reliability and reduced wear translate

directly into less down time and lower

operating costs. Perhaps most significant

to the industry, the lower pressures and

slower airflow resulting from this design

approach can improve filtration efficiency,

which in turn can result in improved yields

due to reduced particle contamination.

S

ome of the best examples of these

efficient designs are those practiced by

Lee Eng Lock of Supersymmetry Services,

a company that specializes in the design

of high-efficiency, clean room HVAC

systems. Lee’s designs routinely operate at

0.7 kilowatts per ton of cooling capacity,

including all system components, compared to conventional industry practice of

1.2 to 2.0 kilowatts per ton, or more.

In existing factories, retrofit opportunities are less dramatic, but savings, based

on estimates as well as experience, can

still be significant. Lee estimates that

savings of 30 percent to 60 percent of

the energy used in HVAC systems are

realistic. Two examples from fabs in the

Northeast United States support this

estimate for existing facilities:

A company with a large clean room

participated in the New England Electric

System Chiller Initiative Program to improve its

HVAC system when it was revamping to

eliminate CFC refrigerants. The company

improved energy efficiency in the HVAC

system by one-third, and improved productivity because it was then able to remain in

production through the summer. The productivity gain is worth more than the energy

savings, and this facility has expanded

production as a result.

Almost $3 million in annual energy

savings were achieved in Lucent Technologies,

Allentown, Pennsylvania, fabricating plant

with a $14 million annual energy bill. These

savings were discovered and documented in

the course of an operations and maintenance

audit.

Supporting utility services — e.g., deionized water, vacuum, exhaust, compressed air,

gas delivery, etc. — can all be improved

through better design, equipment and

controls, recycling, heat recovery and other

efficiency techniques. Savings in these

systems can add to the savings cited above,

with opportunities in both new construction

and retrofit of existing facilities.
14 Opportunities for Efficiency in the Northwest Microelectronics Industry

EFFICIENCY OPPORTUNITIES

IN TOOLS AND

SUPPORTING UTILITY

SYSTEMS

S

emiconductor plants contain a complex

array of subsystems, including support

utilities, production tools and related components. All of the mechanical, thermal and

electrical subsystems, and related equipment,

are candidates for efficiency improvements.

Production tools are expensive. Each tool

can cost from $1 million to more than $3

million and can require $250,000 or more

to configure for operation. Tools and their

supporting utilities use 50 percent to 70

percent of the energy consumed by a typical

semiconductor fabricating plant. Generally,

once it is operating, a tool is left on except for

maintenance. Tools are significant drivers of

cooling loads, and when combined with the

outdoor air needed to make up the exhaust

from these tools, they account for the majority of cooling capacity that must be designed

into the fabricating plant HVAC system.

Despite the amount of energy tools require, energy efficiency typically has not been

an area of focus for tool manufacturers.

Components that are built into the tools

generally are selected to minimize first cost,

not life-cycle cost.

Efficiency examples:

Tools and supporting

utility systems

T

he energy-efficiency industry is well

acquainted with components typically

used in manufacturing tools, including

motors, fans, pumps, heaters, compressors, plumbing, ducts, controls and heat

exchangers. It should be possible to

bring together energy-efficiency experts

with tool manufacturers and tool users to

minimize the life-cycle cost of operating

production tools. Ways to improve tool

efficiency include the following examples:

An electric utility evaluated an epitaxial deposition furnace and reported

that it could cost-effectively reduce the

energy load of the furnace by 50 percent. These furnaces operate inside clean

rooms, where cutting the cooling load

creates more savings in the chilled water

plant.

Vacuum systems, while not major

electricity users, are reportedly based on

outdated automotive vacuum pump

technology. One company is now

working to use scroll compressor technology to build vacuum pumps that use

80 percent less electricity to provide the

same vacuum service.
Opportunities for Efficiency in the Northwest Microelectronics Industry 15

An ion implant tool manufacturer has

begun to market its tool as requiring

two-thirds less energy and water than its

competitor.

The next tool generation will be based

on .18-micron feature sizes, and

300-millimeter diameter wafers. Tool and

process designs for these new wafers

are not yet committed, which provides

an opportunity to work with the manufacturers and users to improve energy

efficiency.

Based on discussions with tool manufacturers, users and energy-efficiency

consultants, it appears likely that significant energy-efficiency improvements in

tools and their supporting utility systems

can be achieved. Sources estimated that

improvements of 50 percent to 70

percent are probably achievable and

economically justifiable.

Since most of the tool systems produce

heat and some require large exhaust air

streams, improvements to tool systems

will also reduce HVAC energy usage and

reduce the size of HVAC system required,

ultimately cutting the plant’s capital costs.

EFFICIENCY OPPORTUNITIES

IN SILICON CRYSTAL

GROWING FACILITIES

A

bout half of all U.S. semiconductor-grade

crystal and wafer production is located

in the Pacific Northwest. The electric resistance-heated furnaces in these facilities

produce, or “grow,” single-crystal silicon

ingots, from which wafers are made for the

semiconductor and photovoltaic industries.

For semiconductor-grade ingots and wafers,

the furnaces typically are operated in a clean

room environment, due to purity requirements. Photovoltaic-grade ingots do not

require such purity, so photovoltaic industry

crystal furnaces are operated in more

conventional industrial facilities.

A typical crystal furnace has a nameplate

rating of 125 to 250 kilowatts or greater,

depending on the diameter of the ingot to be

produced. The furnaces nominally operate at

about two-thirds rated power. The power is

on for an 18-hour-per-day duty cycle, which

is necessary to melt the silicon and produce

the ingot, followed by six hours off power, for

maintenance and reloading. A large factory

may employ several hundred of these

furnaces. One crystal/wafer factory can

typically serve between five and 10 chip

manufacturing facilities.

To illustrate the energy use of these crystal

growing facilities, 100 furnaces operating at

250 kilowatts each at 66 percent nominal

power amounts to an electric load of 16.5

megawatts and consumes 104,000 megawatt-hours per year. Discussions with industry

experts suggests that a whole-systems

approach to efficiency improvements in these

facilities could achieve impressive results,

including significantly reduced energy use,

increased productivity and reduced product

prices.
16 Opportunities for Efficiency in the Northwest Microelectronics Industry

Efficiency examples: Lessons from

the photovoltaic industry

S

iemens Solar Industries grows silicon

ingots in its Vancouver, Washington, plant,

from which it produces the largest volume of

single-crystal photovoltaic cells in the world.

Siemens recently tripled its Vancouver plant

capacity, and plans to continue to triple

capacity every few years. Crystal growing is a

key limiting factor in photovoltaic capacity

expansion.

Siemens Solar Industries has identified a

number of technical improvements to its

furnaces that could significantly reduce the

energy used to produce wafers for photovoltaic cells. These improvements, Siemens

maintains, could cut in half the time to

produce the crystals, doubling the productivity of the furnace.

Specific furnace hot zone technical improvements identified by Siemens include:

redesigning the thermal insulation components surrounding the crucible in which the

silicon is melted; redesigning the argon gas

management system; and installing a heat

shield to permit more rapid cooling of the

crystal as it is pulled from the crucible.

Because furnaces used by Siemens are

basically the same equipment used to produce crystals for the semiconductor industry,

these technical improvements, if realized,

should be transferable from one industry to

the other.

Siemens executives report that eventual

energy savings of 60 percent to 75 percent

are achievable. Additional minor energy

savings are reported to be possible from

improvements to the power supplies that

convert alternating-current to direct-current

for use in the furnaces.

These cost reductions and productivity

improvements, if adopted by the rest of

the industry, would eventually result in

lower product prices, and further expand

silicon ingot production to meet growing

world demands for photovoltaic power

systems and computer chips. Importantly, if productivity increases as predicted, the capital required for industry

capacity expansion, as well as the energy

required to fuel that expansion, may be

significantly reduced.
Opportunities for Efficiency in the Northwest Microelectronics Industry 17

T

here are a number of mutually

reinforcing causes of energy

inefficiency in the microelectronics

industry. At the root of most of these

problems is the intense competition in this

industry to move from new concept to full

market as quickly as possible. “Faster,

better, cheaper” are this industry’s priorities, not “more efficient.” Ironically, this

rapid innovation in products is in sharp

contrast to the pace of change in facility

designs and manufacturing processes.

Manufacturers are reluctant to change

facility designs if these changes could be

perceived as reducing reliability or slowing

the cycle time for bringing out new products.

New manufacturing facilities are

designed and built to produce the next

generation of technology. In a strong

market, when the timing is correct, these

facilities can be highly profitable. In a

weak market, or if timing is bad, huge

losses can result. As a result, construction

project managers for new facilities are

intensely schedule-driven.

Once a plant is operational, reliability

is critical. Because of the significant capital

invested in a new facility, any time the plant is

not turning out product results in significant

costs and large revenue losses. Hence,

engineering designs for new facilities are

conservative, with a bias toward new facilities

whose designs are consistent with existing

plants.

These pressures generate barriers

to increased energy efficiency:

Schedule: This industry faces incredible

time pressures to get new products to market.

Huge amounts of capital are spent on technologies and product lines that may be

surpassed by the next generation in a few

years. Thus, the primary objective in building

any new tool or plant is to get the latest

innovations out the door as fast as possible.

Today, new, billion-dollar semiconductor

manufacturing plants must be designed,

constructed and operating in 12 to 18

months, to meet product time-to-market

requirements. Facility and process engineering

design time is squeezed, thus precluding

major structural, mechanical or process

efficiency improvements.

Risk: With such large sums of money at

stake, many manufacturers perceive any

change that is not absolutely critical to the

end result as an unacceptable risk factor. This

frequently results in specifications for new

facilities that are based on previous designs,

leaving little room for creative engineering for

efficiency. Engineering conservatism says don’t

change what works, especially if it might delay

production or adversely affect reliability.

– IV –

WHAT’S HOLDING BACK

EFFICIENCY

IMPROVEMENTS?
18 Opportunities for Efficiency in the Northwest Microelectronics Industry

Energy is perceived to be a small,

unchangeable cost: Traditionally, energy

costs in this industry are perceived to be a

small percentage of total production cost

(capital plus operating). Recent events with

electricity market deregulation and a potential

reduction in bulk electricity prices may reinforce the attitude that energy efficiency is not

important.

Lack of Awareness: Owners may be

unaware of energy and other resource efficiency opportunities and their potential benefits, including capital and operating cost

savings, and improved reliability and productivity.

Fragmentation of the design process:

Design engineering functions are fragmented

(in part due to timing considerations) and fail

to capture design synergies that could result in

operating and capital cost savings. For example, capital cost savings in the electrical

systems are not credited to more efficient

mechanical systems because mechanical and

electrical are two separate, independently

managed design budgets.

Lack of feedback from operational

plants: A fragmented design process that

relies on replicating past, proven designs, does

not use feedback from the current design to

revise the next. It does not incorporate the

principles of Total Quality Management:

“design, build, measure, analyze, design.”

Often, facility managers have little control over

the design or manufacturing processes, even

though their experience in plant operations

might offer substantial insights in new plant

designs.
Opportunities for Efficiency in the Northwest Microelectronics Industry 19

T

he barriers that have slowed imple

mentation of efficiency improvements in the microelectronics

industry are substantial. They have their

own momentum. To counteract them, the

industry will need partners with solid

arguments and proven technological

alternatives. We suggest that a more

integrated design process, emphasizing

resource efficiency, could help this industry prosper in several key ways:

Save money: Capital and operating

costs would be reduced.

Improve performance: Environmental controls and productivity would be

improved, while providing continued

assurance of reliability.

Reduce environmental impacts:

Emissions at the facility, as well as at the

utility power plant, would be reduced. This

would reduce industry exposure to

emerging international concerns regarding climate change.

Improve community relations: An

additional result would be better community relations because of perceived

environmental responsibility.

The strategies listed below are designed to test new technologies and

provide defensible data to support the

microelectronics industry in overcoming

the barriers to efficiency. They will be most

successful if supported by collaborative

efforts of people within the microelectronics industry, as well as with others in the

– V –

STRATEGIES FOR

COLLABORATIVE

ACTION

energy and energy efficiency industries; with

tool and other product manufacturers and

vendors; and with local, state and federal

government agencies.

Develop Case Studies: Support the

development of case studies, including

measured, detailed energy performance

data. This data will provide facility owners

with objective information with which to

evaluate the performance of their facilities

and processes. The SEMATECH International

Energy Project, which is designed to produce

benchmark energy analyses, is one example

of this type of activity. Such data could be

produced at the level of individual factories

and process tools. Key to this strategy will be

development of protocols for measuring and

visualizing energy performance, and distribution of the data – on the Internet, for example – so it can be readily studied and

implemented elsewhere.

Create Ongoing Education Opportunities: Organize continuing professional

education, including an information exchange network, where design professionals

are provided opportunities to learn from

industry innovators. The Northwest Power

Planning Council and the Oregon Office of

Energy have begun this process in the

Northwest by sponsoring annual workshops

with Lee Eng Lock of Supersymmetry Services.

Other resources could include an Internet

web site and a newsletter.

Improve Efficiency in Production

Tools: Integrate design for energy efficiency

with industry technical processes in a wholesystem design review. We recommend that a

charrette process (see charrette sidebar) be
20 Opportunities for Efficiency in the Northwest Microelectronics Industry

used. This process, which has been used

successfully in other industrial efficiency

projects, can be used at any scale, from

entire factory systems to individual process

tool designs. The new tools to be deployed

for the 300-millimeter wafer transition are a

potential candidate for this process. Redesigned tools could then be independently

evaluated to determine their cost of ownership.

Produce Efficient Design Guidelines:

Publish energy-efficiency oriented design

guidelines. These could be developed

collaboratively by parties with energy-efficiency expertise, organizations representing

the microelectronics industry and other

interested parties. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the California Institute

for Energy Efficiency recently published a

“Design Guide for Energy-Efficient Research

Laboratories.” This guide could serve as a

useful platform on which to build a more

comprehensive design guide for production

clean rooms.

Assess Future Technology: Track

advanced research and development activities that are focused on alternative production regimes for tool systems, including

enhanced mini-environments and selfcontained cluster tools. Facilitate the integration of energy-efficiency aspects into designs

for prototype and conceptual models. The

Semiconductor Research Corporation, its

university-based research centers and the

Electric Power Research Institute could be

venues for these activities.

Provide Industry “Roadmap” Assistance: Provide objective information from

an energy-efficiency and environmental

perspective to inform the industry’s “National

Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors.”

This Roadmap is the industry source for

planning technical research and development activities. It is revised every three years

and would provide an effective context to

articulate goals related to reducing industry

energy use, while improving economic

performance and reliability.

Support Research and Development Projects: Support potentially

high-impact research and development

projects designed to improve energy and

resource efficiency in specific technical

systems. Funding from organizations,

such as the Northwest Energy Efficiency

Alliance, participating industrial firms

and industry associations, could be

linked with appropriate technology

transfer and commercialization commitments. Three examples illustrate this type

of activity:

Silicon ingot furnaces: In the

furnaces used to produce silicon ingots,

Siemens estimates that research and

development investments can improve

energy efficiency by more than 50

percent, reduce use of expensive argon

gas by 90 percent and potentially double

furnace productivity. Reportedly, these

technical improvements are applicable to

the entire global base of crystal growing

furnaces. If the research and development results are consistent with these

expectations the energy and capital cost

savings could be quite significant.

Lighting: Light guides are an advanced lighting distribution technology

with potential application in this industry.

This technology, which uses a remote

light source and distributes light through

plastic tubes, is a candidate to replace

standard fluorescent lighting in clean

rooms. This could save clean room

operators the down-time expense and

contamination problems inherent in

relamping areas of the clean room where

fluorescent lights have burned out.

Dry cleaning technologies: New

microelectronics fabricating plants

require on the order of a million gallons

of water every day, a significant portion

of which is used for cleaning. “Dry clean”

technologies (cryogenic, laser or plasma)

are being developed that promise better

particle removal efficiencies, yet require
Opportunities for Efficiency in the Northwest Microelectronics Industry 21

What is a design

charrette?

Charrette is French for

“cart.” It refers to the

practice used by French

architecture students to

cart their semester projects

to the design review.

Working in teams, these

students were intensely

involved in the creative

process, constantly working with each other to

refine their designs. This

process was at its most

intense as the teams were

being transported on the

“charrette” to present their

design to their professors.

Hence, the term charrette

has come to mean a short,

intensive, team-workoriented design process.

far less water and reduce wafer processing time. Care

should be taken to design these new technologies to

incorporate energy efficiency.

Low face velocity and particle contamination: HVAC designs using low face velocity have been

shown to reduce filter bypass. However, more detailed,

controlled, study of the impacts of low face velocity on

particle contamination would help to quantify the nonenergy benefits.

Putting it all together:

a “green FAB” design charrette?

A “green FAB” design charrette could be effective in

breaking through many of the technical and market

barriers to improved energy efficiency in this industry.

The objective of a green fabricating plant design

charrette would be to perform a detailed, systemsoriented analysis of existing and proposed designs, and

to create proposals for design changes and improvements. Participants would form a technical team,

spanning such disciplines as tool design; maintenance;

manufacturing; facilities design; marketing; finance;

environment, safety and health. The team should

include the company’s architect and consulting

engineering firm, including mechanical, electrical and

structural specialties, as well as specialists in resourceefficient design.

This team would analyze all energy-using systems of

the plant, and determine where efficiencies can be

realized. Examples where such a process could be

effectively employed in the microelectronics industry

include:

lA company with a fabricating plant that has been

planned, but delayed due to market conditions;

lA company with a phased-construction plan for

multiple fabs over a long time period;

lA company that wants to make environmental

management a part of its corporate citizenship and

market positioning;

lAn engineering firm with an interest in improving the

efficiency of its standard fabricating plant design

lProcess tool manufacturers planning the next generation of tools, as in the 300-millimeter wafer transition
22 Opportunities for Efficiency in the Northwest Microelectronics Industry

lCompanies wanting to make improvements

to mechanical and electrical systems in

existing facilities.

F

or design charrettes to be successful,

participants will need to provide the right

mix of staff and consultants. They should

allow time to innovate outside of production

schedule time pressures. In addition, they

should follow through, measure results and

incorporate findings in the next plant or tool

design.

As semiconductor manufacturers

acquire experience with more efficient

designs and processes, there is a high

probability that the new approaches will

become standard practice. Similarly, after

an engineering firm has thought through

the design issues, developed an energyefficient plant design, and built and

evaluated it for a customer, it is likely they

will use this experience in their marketing

and business positioning. In short, the

design market will be transformed to a

new level of resource efficiency.

T

his report describes three key areas of

the micro electronics industry where

tremendous energy and other resource

savings can be achieved: in fabricating

facilities; in semiconductor production tools;

and in the manufacturing process for silicon

crystals. These savings translate to lower

utility bills, of course, but also lower capital

costs, increased productivity and improved

environmental performance.

To bring these resource-efficient approaches to the attention of the microelectronics industry in the Pacific Northwest and

elsewhere, the sponsors of this report want to

help develop and carry out the strategies

described earlier, including demonstration

case studies that are carefully metered so

efficiency results can be easily collected,

analyzed and communicated. We view this as

an opportunity to bring together the microelectronics industry, the electricity industry,

– VI –

LET’S WORK

TOGETHER

the energy-efficiency industry, local

communities and federal and state

government agencies in a partnership

aimed at raising the state of the art in

microelectronics manufacturing.

It is an opportunity to preserve and

use wisely the very natural resources —

the clean air and water, the low-cost

electricity — that drew the microelectronics industry to the Pacific Northwest. This

is an industry for which change is a

constant, and these are changes on

which this industry can thrive.
Opportunities for Efficiency in the Northwest Microelectronics Industry 23

Key Industry

Organizations

SIA: Semiconductor Industry Association is the trade association that

represents the semiconductor manufacturers.

SRC: Semiconductor Research Corporation is an industry-funded

consortium that supports university-based research centers that focus on

advancing chip design and manufacturing methods.

SEMATECH: SEMATECH is a joint industry and government consortium

whose mission has been to improve development of advanced, U.S.-based

semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Its focus is mainly on the

microelectronics chip fabrication process and necessary support

facilities. The Environmental, Safety and Health Division at SEMATECH is

the locus of interest in energy efficiency, and is working with the

SEMATECH Facilities Council to advance their agendas.

SEMI: Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International is a global

standards-setting organization, with technical committees, trade shows

and technical conferences. Members are suppliers to the semiconductor manufacturers. (SEMI/SEMATECH members are U.S. tool and

equipment suppliers, who work with SEMATECH through such venues

as the Supplier Advisory Council.)

Sound Interesting?

Care to join us?

For more information, call:

Jeff Harris, Northwest Power Planning Council,

1-800-222-3355, or 503-222-5161

or e-mail: jharris@nwppc.org.

Karl Vischer, Bonneville Power Administration,

1-503-230-3445,

or e-mail: kvischer@bpa.gov.

Chris Robertson, Chris Robertson and Associates,

1-503-287-5477

or e-mail: crobertson@igc.org
24 Opportunities for Efficiency in the Northwest Microelectronics Industry

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851 S.W. Sixth Avenue, Suite 1100

Portland, Oregon 97204

Oregon

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