Addressing environment, health and safety in semiconductor process development

Motorola has traditionally focused on cost, yield, performance, and logistics as primary drivers for decision-making. In the semiconductor industry, environment, health and safety (EHS) issues have resulted in major modifications of tools and process steps, as well as the addition of environmental controls to the facility, because they are not routinely considered when making process design and manufacturing choices, nor is their impact on cost, yield, and cycle time. Certain business driving forces, such as cost, sustainability of processes/tools, time to market, market access, and market share, are leading Motorola to a cultural change in which EHS impacts must be considered during product and process design; however, design and process engineers have not been able to adequately address these impacts. Motorola's Advanced Process Research and Development Laboratory (APRDL) in the Semiconductor Product Sector (SPS) has recognized this and has established its own environmental group (separate from the site EHS compliance group) to implement a Design for EHS (DFEHS) strategy. The APRDL environmental group works with several project teams to address EHS issues in process development. These teams have been investigating copper metallization, wet cleans processes and tools, and other areas to ensure that the long-term EHS implications are identified and addressed before a process is transferred or a tool set recommended to a manufacturing fab. To empower engineers to consider, on their own, the EHS impacts of their materials and processes at the earliest possible stage, the APRDL environmental group has developed a DFEHS training course. This self-instructed, web-based course targets semiconductor design and process engineers and is available through Motorola University, the corporate training institution. The group has also established a procedure for approving new materials for the development lab in which EHS criteria are included.