Tag: sustainability

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Electronic Components

Semiconductor Industry Sustainability

Industry sustainability

Semiconductor Industry Sustainability

Sustainability and making the industry more environmentally friendly has been a goal for a long time. There is even more urgency for this as production increased to deal with the shortages.

The electronics industry has spent most of the last three years battling with component shortages and supply chain chaos. However, as supply chains and shortages begin to come under control, another issue takes precedence.

Following COP27 and the Smart and Green Manufacturing Summit during SEMICON Europa in November of last year, certain sustainability goals and factors have been highlighted.

The source

There are several areas of the industry that are responsible for releasing greenhouse gases, including:

Emissions from fabs: greenhouse gases are released during processes like wafer etching and chamber cleaning. On a wider scale, the energy use to power equipment in fabs also causes greenhouse emissions.

Transport and storage: The vehicles and vessels used to transport goods can emit gases that can also be harmful. As demand increases, shipments also increase and the need to find an environmentally friendly method of transportation.

Downstream emissions: The emissions from other manufacturing processes and end-users further adds to the impact of the industry.

The Paris Agreement

There has been a call to introduce more incentives for electronics manufacturers to focus on sustainability.

After the Paris Agreement was implemented at COP21 in 2015, every industry was obliged to prioritise sustainability. The agreement aims to limit global warming to below 2⁰C compared to pre-industrial levels.

Some big players in the industry have already made sustainability pledges, including Intel and Samsung.

Between now and 2030, the CAGR has been forecast at 8%, putting the industry at $1.3 trillion in annual revenue. If the industry will grow that much there is a chance that the greenhouse gas emissions would quadruple. As such, there is more need than ever to reach sustainability targets.

Recent research has estimated the electronics industry counts for about 4% of global greenhouse gas production.

Part of the problem, part of the solution

The semiconductor industry is essential to the development of renewable power sources and other technology to battle climate change. But the components going into this sustainable tech may not be made sustainably, exacerbating the issue. As such, improving the sustainability of the sector could make a huge difference to the state of the planet.

Part of the Paris Agreement was to reduce greenhouse emissions by 50% by 2030. Imec predicted that, unless the sector starts actively reducing emissions, the part played by the industry in global warming will increase. As other sectors attempt to lower their impact, the semiconductor industry will get left behind.

Imec are currently planning to release a platform, Imec.netzero, to estimate energy, water and mineral usage and greenhouse gas emissions. Following the results presented in 2020, many manufacturers and suppliers became interested in the project, including Apple, Microsoft and Amazon.

That, and other initiatives to improve sustainability, will hopefully put the industry in better stead going forward.

Doing our part

We at Lantek know how important sustainability is. Our efforts to source electronic parts for our customers means there is less waste, and less need for newly manufactured parts. Our dedicated sales team is always here to find the parts you’re looking for, at the best possible price. Contact us today at sales@lantekcorp.com or call us on 1-973-579-8100.

Categories
Electronic Components

Keeping clean and going green for Electronica

Electronica

Keeping clean and going green for Electronica

The Lantek staff are busy preparing for the biggest event in the Lantek calendar: Electronica. This is the time for us to meet our customers, both returning and new. But this year, we are making sure we’re doing things the clean, green way.

Since Covid, we are paying special attention to the hygiene services we provide. There will be hand sanitiser and wipes available on our stand, along with gloves and masks.

It is more important than ever to ensure we are environmentally conscious, and to that end we are taking steps to minimise our environmental impact.

As we are shipping our goods from the UK to Germany, we are making sure we are using much less disposable packaging. As far as possible we have reduced our packing and will be reducing the total volume of goods shipped to avoid unnecessary emissions.

The goods we are shipping to Electronica are also greener than in previous years. One of the OEM rewards we are giving out to our customers is the Rocketbook.

This notebook is a fusion of traditional handwriting and digitisation. The Rocketbook is a paper notebook with a QR code on each page. When paired with the phone app you can scan the code, upload pages of writing and digitize the text. Once it is uploaded, you can clear the page of the notebook and use it again.

This reusable approach to a traditional tool is something we at Lantek are passionate about. We are looking forward to sharing this innovation with our customers!

We are also taking other steps to go green for Electronica. The disposable products that we would have taken in the past are being replaced with recyclable alternatives, like paper cups for drinks instead of plastic.

With only 2 weeks until Electronica preparation is in full swing for the event. We can’t wait to see you all there!

Come visit the Lantek team in Hall 4, stand 126. In the meantime, you can always contact us on 1-973-579-8100 , or email us at sales@lntekcorp.com

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Electronic Components Technology

New construction of the smallest microchips using graphene nano-origami

electronic components

New construction of the smallest microchips using graphene nano-origami

Material science and clever engineering have cut the space between components on microchips to nanometres. This has led to significant performance benefits because more components can fit on the chip.

However, there is a limit to how small things can go with the current chip design. 7nm is as small as chips will go from here based on existing technology. Why? Because 7nm is the gap between components on a chip. This space is tiny. Going smaller isn’t feasible because we’re working with spaces that are too small.

It’s also incredibly expensive. Prototyping a 7nm chip costs around £80 million and there are only a handful of companies that can do it.

Graphene ‘nano-origami’ to the rescue

Graphene is a nanomaterial one atom thick. It has been talked about as a revolutionary material for over a decade and now experimental researchers have used it to develop the world’s tiniest microchips using a form of ‘nano-origami’.

The world’s tiniest microchips are 100 times smaller than silicon chips and thousands of times faster. The way they work is instead of having transistors on them, the graphene has kinks in the structure and these kinks act as the transistors.

On this breakthrough, Prof Alan Dalton in the School of Mathematical and Physics Sciences at the University of Sussex, said:

“We’re mechanically creating kinks in a layer of graphene. It’s a bit like nano-origami. Using these nanomaterials will make our computer chips smaller and faster.

It is absolutely critical that this happens as computer manufacturers are now at the limit of what they can do with traditional semiconducting technology. Ultimately, this will make our computers and phones thousands of times faster in the future.”

Is graphene the future of microchips?

Researchers are calling this breakthrough nano-origami technology “straintronics”. It uses nanomaterials as opposed to electronics, eliminating the need for electronic components on the chip. This makes the chips 100 times smaller.

Another benefit to graphene microchips is speed. Graphene conducts electricity 250 times faster than silicon. In fact, it conducts electricity faster than any known substance. It truly is a ‘space-age’ nanomaterial for today.

Instead of building microchips with foreign materials like transistors, researchers have shown another way of doing things. By creating kinks in graphene, structures can be made that replace electronic components including transistors and logic gates.

Another benefit to graphene nano-origami is sustainability. No additional materials are added during the manufacturing process. Production also takes place at room temperature as opposed to high temperature with silicon chips.

The truth is that silicon microchips cannot feasibly go below 7nm. The next step in performance evolution with silicon chips will come from heat management and power density. Graphene is smaller, faster and just as capable. The next step is for manufacturers to develop the technology and take it to market.

Overall, while the immediate future is silicon, we are in no doubt that graphene is the future of microchips. It has too many performance advantages to ignore.   

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Electronic Components Environment

How does recycling electronics help create sustainability within the industry?

How does recycling electronics help create sustainability within the industry?

How does recycling electronics help create sustainability within the industry?

Thanks to advancements in material science and recycling technologies, it’s possible to recycle around 80% of most new electronics. For example, the smartphone in your hand or pocket has around 80% recyclable components.

The most valuable components in electronics are rare and precious metals. The quantity of these metals in your phone is tiny but the number of phones (and other electronics) that enter landfill is huge. This creates a lucrative opportunity for recyclers to invest in processes that can extract the most valuable components efficiently.

Recycling in the electronics industry

Recycling electronics is important to not only reduce e-waste, but also our dependency on the mining and manufacturing of new materials. 

The electronics industry is at odds with environmentalists because the industry that’s pioneering solar and renewable energy technologies generates a lot of e-waste. You can’t have it both ways. If you want technology to fight climate change, it first has to advance to a point where it becomes neutral and self-sustained.

Mass recycling is the process that will enable this in the future. For now, it is a stop-gap to minimise the electronics industry’s impact on the environment. And it’s working, with 15% of e-waste recycled globally in 2019. This figure is rising by 2-3% per year. In 2030 we expect the global e-waste recycling rate to hit 50%.

European legislation requires every manufacturer and producer to arrange and finance the collection, treatment, recycling and disposal of WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment). This is a positive step. In the future, we want to see 100% recycling efficiency, although this will require different materials to those used today.

Excess inventory management

Another area of the electronics industry where recycling is important is excess electronic components. These components are not assigned for manufacturing and have no purpose in production. They take up space and are depreciating assets.

These components tend to be discarded and written off. However, recycling is not the best thing for them. The best thing for them is putting them back into production. The old phrase “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” springs to mind.

This process is known as excess inventory management and it requires an electronic component distributor to purchase unwanted stockpiles of components. These stockpiles are then re-sold through a distribution network.

This provides a few benefits to the seller:

  • An instant, positive cash injection
  • Reduced stockholding costs
  • Reduced time spent managing surplus stock

For example, our excess inventory specialists purchase and manage stock that has been identified for disposition. This process turns unwanted electronic components into cash and introduces new revenue streams into existing businesses.

Where does excess inventory end up?

Most excess inventory ends up on the production line with manufacturers and OEMs to create new products. This puts the components into production and significantly increases the time from manufacture to end of life.

Other components can find no end user. In this case, the components are sent to specialist recycling centres who purchase the components as scrap. Around 10% of excess inventory is sent on for recycling. The majority enters production.