MANUFACTURING
Producing computing devices is not the clean image it is cut out to be.
INTENSIVE MANUFACTURING
COMPUTERS REQUIRE
Producing a single computer requires:
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of fossil fuels
of chemicals
of water
LOW ENTROPY MATTER
Computing components are extremely organized structures of matter.
First generation Intel Core i7 processor.
ENERGY
Digital technology is a product of cheap energy, power hungry production methods are inherent to its design.
As energy resources continue to fall, future cheap energy is not guaranteed.
Producing semiconductors consumes
more energy than traditional goods.
CHEMICALS
Thousands of different chemicals, many in high quantities, are used throughout the manufacturing process.
Most are extremely toxic, and new ones with unknown consequences are constantly developed.
ACETONE
Polishing of silicon wafers.
HYDROCHLORIC ACID
Photoelectrochemical etching.
ARSENIC
Increases semiconductor conductivity.
LEAD
Electroplated soldering.
ARSINE
Chemical vapor deposition.
METHYL CHLOROFORM
Washing.
BENZENE
Photoelectrochemical etching.
TOLUENE
Chemical vapor deposition.
CADMIUM
Creates a positive charge in silicon.
TRICHLOROETHYLENE
Washing.
LEGACY OF CONTAMINATION
Directly as a result of semiconductor production, Silicon Valley has the most toxic waste sites of any region in the entire USA.
Other areas where there is a history of electronics manufacturing, such as Upstate New York, has a similar problem.
Every large electronics manufacturer that began operations before the 1970s has a toxic waste site in its history.
Toxic waste sites, Silicon Valley.
A typical semiconductor manufacturing facility consumes
This is equivalent to the consumption of
ONE SPECK OF DUST
Microchips are assembled in super clean rooms, a single dust particle would ruin it.
Workers wear bunny suits not for their protection, but for the protection of the chips against any particles from a human body.
A semiconductor clean room.
A GLOBAL PROCESS
The supply chain for computing devices makes up the most sophisticated and complex supply chain system in human history.
Raw resources and components are produced and shipped all around the planet before final assembly.
The global computer supply chain visualized.
SHEER VOLUME
Semiconductors are produced in numbers that dwarf other products.
To function, a computer requires hundreds of components, including over 100 microchips.
INTERNET CONNECTED DEVICES IN BILLIONS
2015 - 2025
EXPLODING DEMAND
Any efficiency gains of digital technology will be absorbed by the growing footprint as the number of internet connected devices is expected to triple in the next 5 years.
SILICON WAFERS
The silicon wafer serves as the foundation upon which micro sized circuits are built.
A finished silicon wafer.
STEP 1
QUARTZITE
STEP 2
ELECTRIC ARC FURNACE
At around 2000 degrees celsius, the quartzite is reduced with coke to metallurgical grade silicon in an electric arc furnace.
STEP 3
FLUIDIZED BED REACTOR
STEP 4
CVD REACTOR
STEP 5
POLYSILICON
POLYCRYSTALLINE
STRUCTURE
MONOCRYSTALLINE
STRUCTURE
STEP 6
MONOCRYSTALLINE
STEP 7
GROUND AND CUT
STEP 8
FLATTENED
STEP 9
ETCHED AND POLISHED
FINISHED PRODUCT
The end result is a 99.9999999% pure, perfectly flat, crystalline silicon semiconductor substrate, ready for micro circuits to be built on it.
Raw Polysilicon
1 KG
Finished Wafers
REQUIRED FOR
ONE SQUARE CENTIMETER OF WAFER
0.16 GRAMS
CONSUMES
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AND GENERATES
The waste consists mostly of nitrate compounds, causing ecosystem unbalance.
Most silicon wafer production is done in China where there is little environmental regulation.
SILICON PRODUCTION
2018
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MICROCHIPS
The finished wafer is now ready to have microchip circuits built on it.
BILLIONS
A silicon wafer with micro circuits etched on.
3D section of a microchip.
Many layers of circuitry are built on top of another.
LAYER FORMATION
PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY
The wafer is coated with photosensitive resist chemicals that harden when exposed to UV light.
In a dark room, light is project through an image mask of the layer design, then a minitizuration lens, and finally onto the wafer. The pattern is hardened on the wafer.
Etching chemicals are then used to remove areas of material not covered by the hardened photoresist.
LAYER MODIFICATION
ION IMPLANTATION
The wafer is bombarded with ionized plasma to infuse the silicon with different dopants, resulting in altered conductive properties.
LAYER MODIFICATION
DIFFUSION
Impurities are baked into areas of the silicon to further alter electrical conductivity properties.
LAYER MODIFICATION
DEPOSITION
Insulating layers are grown on the silicon substrate.
A specialized deposition method called metallization forms critical connections between different areas of the chip.
FINISHING
A finished wafer can carry hundreds of chips.
Using extremely precise diamond saws, the wafer is cut up into the individual chips.
They are then installed in packages which prevent damage and serve as a connection interface for circuit boards.
FINISHED CHIP
After a few months and hundreds of processing steps, the microchip is finished.
You will find over 100 microchips in a typical computer.
ONE MICROCHIP
2 GRAMS
CONSUMES
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AND GENERATES
Not including air emissions.
GROWING PRODUCTION
To supply our increasing consumption of computing devices, the microchip industry has steadily grown since its inception.
SEMICONDUCTOR WORLDWIDE REVENUE IN BILLIONS
1988 - 2018
COMPUTERS REQUIRE
INTENSIVE MANUFACTURING
CONSUMES LOADS OF ENERGY, CHEMICALS, AND WATER
THEY HAVE
SHORT LIFESPANS
AND THEIR
DEMAND IS INCREASING
THIS WILL CAUSE
MAJOR WASTE AND DESTRUCTION
- THIS SYSTEM NEEDS TO BE REBOOTED -
The current computing model of take, make, and dispose needs to be reimagined.
This is critical if humanity is to survive and prosper into the future.
MANUFACTURING IS ONLY ONE PART OF THE PROBLEM
RESOURCES
EXPAND
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DISPOSAL
EXPAND