Semiconductors and the environment

Analysis of the environmental impact of semiconductors reveals that the impact is largely because of the manufacturing process which requires numerous chemicals and processes. The material impact is not embodied in the actual final product and one estimate suggests that the mass of material input is about 600 times the mass of the chip produced. In 2002 there were about 66 million 200 mm silicon wafers produced worldwide, each resulting in perhaps 260 individual ICs