Startups for Semiconductor Sustainability – Year 2 Semifinalists Announced

Building on the success of the first year of Startups for Semiconductor Sustainability to spur more green technology innovation, SEMI launched the second year of the program in January by inviting startups, academics, and innovators with compelling ideas for advancing semiconductor industry sustainability to apply to participate. 

Now in year two, the program attracted a large pool of applications that were reviewed by the Startups for Semiconductor Sustainability organizing committee and narrowed down to the semifinalists listed below. 

Following are this year’s Startups for Semiconductor Sustainability focus areas:

• Circularity – Water and Waste Management
  • Water – Increased water recycling rates on existing infrastructure via
    • Digital water solutions (for fast/simple access to water consumption data)
    • In-situ separation (economic steam segregation and advanced separation inside or adjacent to a specific process tool)
    • Drop-in efficiency (new membrane, filter, or technology that reduces the energy intensity of water treatment while fitting within existing treatment footprints)
  • Waste Management
    • Recycling
    • Waste stream reduction
    • Materials and processes designed for circularity
• Emissions Technologies
  • Abatement
  • Alternative chemistries for wafer processing
  • Emissions detection/reduction/accounting tools
• Energy Efficiency
  • Decreased energy intensity for current and future production nodes
    • New designs, materials or processes for fabrication throughput
    • Improved thermal management
    • Advanced power supply module
    • Innovative sensors and management software

To increase the Startups program’s reach, the SEMI effort connected with Enterprise Singapore's Sustainability Open Innovation Challenge, specifically focusing on GlobalFoundries' Green Buildings and Zero-waste Challenge Statements. This collaboration was successful in increasing the number of startups applying to the Startups program, and SEMI and the Startups for Semiconductor Sustainability organizing committee thanks Enterprise Singapore and GlobalFoundries for their support.

The semifinalists will be matched with industry mentors over six weeks for coaching on how to apply their technologies to the semiconductor industry, cater their pitch to the industry, and earn proof of concept and sales opportunities. A final pitch event will be held in June, and finalists announced at SEMICON West 2023, July 11-13 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Registration for the event is open. See more details on the Startups program, including links to podcasts featuring some Year 1 startups.

“The semiconductor industry plays a crucial role in powering the digital economy,” said John Wei, Investment Director at Applied Ventures and a key driver of Startups for Semiconductor Sustainability. “Startups have a unique opportunity to help drive sustainability in the semiconductor industry and pave the way to a more eco-friendly future.”

Circularity

	Blue Lake Packaging seeks to assist the semiconductor industry in eliminating plastic waste throughout the whole supply chain in manufacturing, transportation, and consumer-facing packages.
	ElectraMet is a cleantech company focused on strategic metal recovery from process water and wastewater streams using its patented technology.
	Enlipsium offers a closed-loop recycling system designed to reduce acid waste used for washing equipment parts in the semiconductor manufacturing process.
	FTD Solutions is committed to providing innovative sustainability management solutions for manufacturing facilities. FTD's WMA is a digital twin that simulates site wide water and wastewater systems.
	GRAPHEC developed a new, low-cost electrode material for electrochemical water treatment without oxidizing chloride, work was completed in the scope of European Research Council Starting Grant project ELECTRON4WATER.
	harmony desalting offers batch reverse osmosis, a dynamic variation of the state-of-the-art reverse osmosis process.
	Purity ReSource develops technology to maximize the point-of-use recovery of chemical resources.
	Sorbenta developed a novel and patent protected class of sorbents that selectively remove PFAS from complex water matrices. Sorbenta anticipates collaborative technology development with NC Pure.

Emissions Technologies

	Airviz devices provide not only extensive and reliable air quality data but also offer predictive and prescriptive analytics that empower decision-makers to identify and solve air pollution problems.
	CFEX technology has been developed to track and reduce Scope 2 emissions across supply chains.
	InnoFlex develops a scalable photocatalytic system to clean the F-GHGs and other prevalent greenhouse gases on the rooftops of the semiconductor factories.
	International SubFAB Research Labs’ vision is to fill the immense gap between industry’s desire for sustainable manufacturing and its ability to effectively address fundamental efficiency issues associated with handling, abatement and reclaim of hazardous process material waste leaving process chambers as gas emissions and liquid waste streams in FABs.
	Multiscale Technologies offers a full suite of products that accelerate innovations in materials & manufacturing processes while simultaneously reducing harmful gases such as carbon dioxide released during manufacturing processes.
	SINAI Technologies tools engage organizations to automate carbon analysis and reporting for their entire operation, transforming the way they interact with their business, value chain, and the environment.

Energy Efficiency

	Aligned Carbon’s CNT material is a key enabler to monolithically integrated computer chips, which will improve machine learning chips by 1000x in combination of speed and reduced power.
	AlixLabs makes atomic layer etching for nano device fabrication.
	Aqua Membranes builds finished elements using printed spacers which are directly compatible with existing systems, but reduce wasted energy by up to 60%, and allow for higher rates of water reuse and recycle.
	Corintis pushes the state of the art in computing design by offering a new dimension in cooling and logic co-design.
	Falcomm is focused on developing the most energy efficient on-chip transmitters that will become the backbone of the wireless infrastructure and every wireless device in the planet.
	Instrumems develops and manufactures innovative sensing solutions based on a MEMS nanosensor platform.
	L2X Labs has an ambitious mission to develop EUV technology for the next generation of chip manufacturing.
	PingThings is hoping to develop and further validate use cases specific to semiconductor manufacturing regarding power quality and its impact on operations.

James Amano is senior director of EHS and Sustainability at SEMI.