Sustainability of semiconductor technologies

Sustainability is one of the key challenges of our society. The evolution of electronics has however been driven for several decades by increase of performance (speed), reduction of battery power, of dimensions and of cost, without looking at the footprint of chips fabrication. The manufacturing of the semiconductors chips consume energy, water and produces greenhouse gases emissions. The exponential deployment of electronics in almost all application domains has also been enabled by the introduction of various materials, some of which require high energy of extraction and are difficult to recycle.

In this Ms thesis, you will evaluate the environmental impact of fabrication process of modern and future semiconductor technologies for different applications (digital logic, memory, Radio-frequencies).  You will assess complete semiconductors fabrication processes in terms of carbon footprint, water and rare material usage, in order to develop more eco-friendly technologies in the future. You will work in close collaboration research teams in imec, a leading-the-edge research center located in Leuven. Good coding skills is essential.  Background in semiconductor technology (processing) will help.