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Kinsz
Silicon wafers are manufactured from a thin sheet of semiconductor material like silicon crystal. In general they are made in 50mm to 300 mm in diameter with silicon being the main material used in manufacturing them. They can be polished on one or both sides but it is usually just one. Polishing helps to even the surface of the substrate preparing it for the device it will accommodate.
The special wafers are found in most of the appliances we use such as phones, computers, coffee makers and toasters to name a few. This slice contains many discs and like a tiny brain it is the fundamental component for micro chips. Many resistors and transistors are contained within these chips and their design is created by specialists.
The special properties that this material consists of make it a good material to use as a semi-conductor. This ultra thin material is etched with a circuit design. The conditions must be absolutely dust free. The air is hundreds of times cleaner than a hospital operating room. The complex designs of these integrated circuits are miniaturized through a process called photo lithography.
The solar industry uses this wafer the most but the high cost for producing this item is providing the incentive to look for an alternate technology to bring down the cost of solar panel production. A new technology funded by NREL will do away with the wafer in this product. The equipment has already been manufactured and a pilot plant will be manufacturing the wafer free solar panels in 2013.
One well known US company has solved the problem of the disposal of waste material. The company produces wafers and instead of discarding the waste portion of the product it has been upcycling the material for the last ten years. The new solar cells extracted from this waste material have supplied electricity to over 1600 homes. Many thousands of metric tons of carbon dioxide have been prevented from being released into the environment.
The circuitry and films have been removed so that the material can be up-cycled to be used in solar panels. A company in Korea purchases the waste material, cleans it and sells it to solar cell companies. This system is helping to keep scrap silicon out of landfill areas.
Silicon wafers must be manufactured in dust free conditions. Each stage of the manufacturing process requires cleaning by water to remove any stray dust particles that can contaminate the proper functioning of the circuitry. The hermetically sealed working conditions ensure that all the products that rely on this circuitry will work properly.
The special wafers are found in most of the appliances we use such as phones, computers, coffee makers and toasters to name a few. This slice contains many discs and like a tiny brain it is the fundamental component for micro chips. Many resistors and transistors are contained within these chips and their design is created by specialists.
The special properties that this material consists of make it a good material to use as a semi-conductor. This ultra thin material is etched with a circuit design. The conditions must be absolutely dust free. The air is hundreds of times cleaner than a hospital operating room. The complex designs of these integrated circuits are miniaturized through a process called photo lithography.
The solar industry uses this wafer the most but the high cost for producing this item is providing the incentive to look for an alternate technology to bring down the cost of solar panel production. A new technology funded by NREL will do away with the wafer in this product. The equipment has already been manufactured and a pilot plant will be manufacturing the wafer free solar panels in 2013.
One well known US company has solved the problem of the disposal of waste material. The company produces wafers and instead of discarding the waste portion of the product it has been upcycling the material for the last ten years. The new solar cells extracted from this waste material have supplied electricity to over 1600 homes. Many thousands of metric tons of carbon dioxide have been prevented from being released into the environment.
The circuitry and films have been removed so that the material can be up-cycled to be used in solar panels. A company in Korea purchases the waste material, cleans it and sells it to solar cell companies. This system is helping to keep scrap silicon out of landfill areas.
Silicon wafers must be manufactured in dust free conditions. Each stage of the manufacturing process requires cleaning by water to remove any stray dust particles that can contaminate the proper functioning of the circuitry. The hermetically sealed working conditions ensure that all the products that rely on this circuitry will work properly.
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