Semiconductor manufacturing plants dramatically reduced their average energy use from 1997 to 2011 according to research by the International Sematech Manufacturing Initiative.
In Worldwide Fab Energy Study, researchers from ISMI’s Environment, Safety and Health Center evaluated the annual energy use of each participating fabrication plant, or fab. They found that energy consumed by process equipment, which according to the latest survey accounts for more than 50 percent of a facility’s energy usage, has improved its efficiencies by half by 2011 and non-process equipment energy consumption has become one-fourth of the 1997 values.
The study, which was conducted at 300 mm and 200 mm semiconductor manufacturing facilities in Asia, North America and Europe, found that the next highest energy consumers, after process equipment, were central chiller plants and bulk gas production. Waste heat recovery and reuse practices were benchmarked for best in class performance.