IEEE CPMT Workshop on Nanoscale Electronics Packaging, Kollektorn A423, MC2, Chalmers University of Technology, Kemivägen 9, Gothenburg, Sweden, Jun 10th

2014

Greening of electronics through

life cycle assessment

Otto Andersen, Western Norway Research Institute

www.vestforsk.no

Overview INTRODUCTION

The ISO standard for LCAAttributional vs. Consequential LCA

CASE 1: INTERCONNECT TECHNOLOGY IN ELECTRONICS MICRO-INTEGRATION CASE 2: PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR CELLSCONCLUSIONS

www.vestforsk.no

INTRODUCTION TO LCALCA - an approach / methodologyEnvironmental aspectsReal and/or potential environmental impactsA product´s (or technology´s) life cycle (”cradle-to-grave” / ”cradle-to-cradle”:

Raw materialsEnergy extractionComponents manufacturingAssemblyDistribution and saleUseEnd-of-life treatment

DisposalRe-use / RecyclingEnergy recovery

Environmental and resource impacts commonly include:Climate changeStratospheric ozone depletionToxicological stress on human health and ecosystemsDepletion of energy and material resources

www.vestforsk.no

Methodological framework of life-cycle assessment according to the ISO 14040

series

www.vestforsk.no

Attributional vs. Consequential LCA• LCAs are commonly conducted as either attributional LCA or as consequential LCA• Attributional LCAs (aLCAs) are also referred to as:

• descriptive• accounting• retrospective

• Consequential LCAs (cLCAs) are also know as:• change-oriented• prospective

• In the aLCA of an energy system, all the environmental impacts created in the life cycle of the energy form are detailed and summarized• The focus of an aLCA is on describing the environmentally relevant physical flows to and from the life cycle stages and their subsystems• The cLCA goes further, setting out to describe how environmentally relevant market flows will change, in response to possible future decisions (e.g., energy policy implementations)

www.vestforsk.no

Case 1: Functional Joining of Dissimilar Materials Using Directed Self-assembly of Nanoparticles by Capillary-bridging – HyperConnect

www.vestforsk.no

www.vestforsk.no

www.vestforsk.no

Establishing of neck-based electrical interconnects (NEI): Neck of silver formed between micron-

sized filler particles

www.vestforsk.no

Establishing of thermal joints by percolating thermal underfill

(PTU): Sequential joining, including the neck formation by capillary

bridging

www.vestforsk.no

IBM Research GmbH (Switzerland)

Fraunhofer Gesellschaft ENAS (Germany)

Lord Germany GmbH (Germany)

Intrinsiq Materials Ltd (UK)

Angewandte Micro-Messtechnik GmbH (Germany)

Conpart AS (Norway)

SINTEF (Norway)

Jerzy Haber Institute of Catalysis and Surface Chemistry (Poland)

TU Chemnitz (Germany)

Vestlandsforsking (Norway)

www.vestforsk.no

Common life-cycle impact indicators

1.Climate metrics2.Eco-Indicator 99

www.vestforsk.no

Climate metrics• Expresses the impact in the form of emission of

greenhouse gases (GHGs), commonly referred to as climate change gases, or the short form climate gases or climate forcers• The indicator is termed GWP100, which implies that it

is expressing the emissions of gases with their combined Global

Warming Potential(GWP) assessed in a 100-years perspective• GWPs are equivalency factors, expressing the relative

heating efficiency (i.e. “radiative forcing”) of a given

climate forcer compared to the net forcing of carbon dioxide• The GWP factors of different climate forcers are

aggregated into a single value, expressed in kilogram or tons of carbon

dioxide (CO2)– equivalents, denoted as CO2eGWP100 has focus on 6 types of GHGs:

• CO2

• methane (CH4)• nitrous oxide (N2O)• hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)• perfluorocarbons (PFCs)• sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)

www.vestforsk.no

Eco-Indicator 99• A compiled indicator expressing weighted results from several

different impact categories.

Overview of the methodology used for Eco-Indicator 99. White boxes refer to procedures, while the grey boxes refer to other components. Source: Goedkoop (2001): The Eco-indicator 99. A damage oriented method for Life Cycle Impact Assessment. http://www.pre-sustainability.com/download/EI99_methodology_v3.pdf

www.vestforsk.no

Global warming

www.vestforsk.no

Global warming (gold included)

www.vestforsk.no

Multiple impacts

www.vestforsk.no

Multiple impacts (gold included)

www.vestforsk.no

Why is Indium considered a problem metal?

Source: Bloodworth, A (2014): Track flows to manage technology - metal supply. Nature, 2 January Vol 505:19-20.

www.vestforsk.no

CASE 2: PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR CELLS- Wet chemical etching of crystalline silicon photovoltaic wafers

- High water consumption from rinsing between successive chemical baths- Emission of high-GWP gases

- New etching process needed (dry etching)

www.vestforsk.no

THE SOLNOWAT PROJECT

www.vestforsk.no

GWP comparison

www.vestforsk.no

Water consumption comparison

www.vestforsk.no

Toxicity comparison

www.vestforsk.no

Conclusions

• Two cases illustrate and critically evaluate LCA as a methodology for assessing environmental aspects of electronics and impact of various stages og product´s life cycle• This has been done for interconnect technology in electronics micro-intergration and photovoltaic solar cells• The two cases show how LCA can contribute towards improving the sustainability of products through reducing negative environmental impacts.

www.vestforsk.no

Contact information:

Name: Otto AndersenPhone: +47 97710928E-mail: oan@vestforsk.no

Vestlandsforsking / Western Norway Research InstitutePostboks 163NO-6851 SogndalNorwayTel: +47 906 33 600