While e-waste triggers gross contamination of topsoil and groundwater, manufacturing processes can stretch ecological resources to the limit. Adding a new dimension to the e-waste question are these foreboding preconditions for semiconductor manufacture.

30 to 1 Cost ratio for treating and discharging city water to ultrapure quality
6.7 mn Gallons of water used per day by a large semiconductor manufacturing facility for the next generation of semiconductors
60,000 City population that can be served by the amount of water used by this next generation facility
2 Number of new natural gas fired power plants needed to supply the projected annual energy requirements of the Northwest's semiconductor industry for the next decade
30 Number of days a typical household could be run from the energy needed to manufacture one semiconductor
50 Percentage of total energy used for HVAC in a semiconductor manufacturing facility
50 Percentage of energy wasted in the semiconductor industry
7,500 Number of houses that use the equivalent amount of power needed for a typical semiconductor fabrication plant
$1,000,000 Typical monthly electric bill for a large fab
The UPW Angle Water use at semiconductor manufacturing facilities is intensive. A large amount of water is used to rinse and clean the semiconductors, and a great deal of this water is UPW (Ultra Pure Water). In general, 1,400-1,600 gallons of city water is needed to produce 1,000 gallons of UPW. More than 2,000 gallons of UPW can be used in the production of a single 8-inch wafer. As a point of reference, a typical 200-mm wafer fab processes 40,000 wafers per month. A large facility can use upto 3 mn gallons of UPW per day.

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