LOS ALAMOS, NM — An otherwise clean industry – chip making – could soon get a little cleaner thanks to scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory who have developed a new technology that eliminates the use of hazardous corrosives and the production of wastewater.

The new technology, called SCORR, focuses on photoresist removal, where high intensity light is combined with acids and corrosives to help create a chip’s integrated circuits.

The average chip-making plant produces 4 million gallons of wastewater and uses thousands of gallons of corrosive hazardous materials every day, according to U.S. Department of Energy statistics.

Using carbon dioxide at high temperatures and pressure in place of the hazardous materials, scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory have inexpensively replaced the solvents and the ultra-pure water needed to wash the solvents away. The closed loop system reuses the carbon dioxide in the process, which adds no greenhouse gas to the atmosphere.