IBM Pioneers Process to Turn Waste into Solar Energy

User rating: 4.7 / 5 after 21 vote(s)

IBM has developed a process for repurposing scrap silicon wafers from its chip manufacturing operations for use in energy-producing solar panels. In this photo Michelle Bolz an IBM manufacturing engineer holds a solar panel above a crate of scrap sil ...
IBM has developed a process for repurposing scrap silicon wafers from its chip manufacturing operations for use in energy-producing solar panels. In this photo Michelle Bolz, an IBM manufacturing engineer, holds a solar panel above a crate of scrap silicon wafers ready to be recycled. IBM intends to provide details of the new process to the broader semiconductor manufacturing industry.

IBM today announced an innovative new semiconductor wafer reclamation process pioneered at its Burlington, Vermont manufacturing facility. The new process uses a specialized pattern removal technique to repurpose scrap semiconductor wafers -- thin discs of silicon material used to imprint patterns that make finished semiconductor chips for computers, mobile phones, video games, and other consumer electronics -- to a form used to manufacture silicon-based solar panels.


Full story »
All News summaries from Technology news
All News summaries for October 30, 2007

Bikers, pedestrians seeking better Web maps

30 minutes ago | User rating: not rated yet
(AP) -- With the old gas-guzzler in the garage, you've got your bicycle ready and your sneakers laced up. Now all you need is a map of the quickest, safest routes for riding around town. Well, not so fast.

Netflix 2Q profit up 4 pct, beats analyst views

31 minutes ago | User rating: not rated yet
(AP) -- Netflix Inc.'s second-quarter profit crept up 4 percent, beating analyst expectations as the online DVD rental leader signed up 168,000 new customers while spending less money to attract them to the service.

Europe’s next-generation broadband

39 minutes ago | User rating: not rated yet
An enormous research effort by Europe’s leading broadband players has helped accelerate dramatically the rollout of next-generation broadband services reaching speeds in the 10s of Mbit/s in many European countries. That ...

Samsung says Q2 profit up 108 percent

8 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. said Friday that second-quarter profit jumped 108 percent year-on-year, what it called a "relatively solid" performance despite missing market forecasts.

Infineon posts heavy quarterly loss, to cut 3,000 jobs

9 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
German semi-conductor group Infineon posted Friday a heavy quarterly loss and announced the elimination of 3,000 jobs.
Goto Archive PhysOrg Forum Goto Archive Video Goto Archive Editorials Goto Archive Free Magazines Goto Archive Newsletter

News Archive