"Green" process and productivity improvements in a GaAs light emitting diode wafer fab

A self directed process improvement team was initiated to streamline the GaAs light emitting diode (LED) wafer process flow and enhance product yields. "Green" benefits of this study to improve GaAs LED wafer processing yields included the elimination of a significant number of chemical processing steps. The new process is more environmentally "friendly" through the use of fewer and "milder" chemicals. Thus wafer production is enhanced with both a yield increase and a cost decrease due to lower levels of chemical usage.