Ever wonder how important water is in making the semiconductors that run the world? The answer: very important. (Producing one smartphone alone takes roughly 240 gal.)
I recently attended UPW (ultrapure water) Micro 2016 in Austin, Texas. The conference featured intriguing presentations on innovations in the treatment of high-purity and process water and wastewater at microelectronics facilities. Following last year’s success in Portland, Ore., UPW Micro 2016 also included two tracks: one for ultrapure water production and one for wastewater treatment from microelectronics manufacturing processes.
It was the 19th year for the conference, which focused on the challenges end-users confront at fabs and how they are dealing with these issues, as well as what they need from suppliers to increase efficiency and maximize uptime.
The co-moderators included:
- Season Hill, Samsung Austin Semiconductor;
- Alan Knapp, Evoqua Water Technologies;
- Slava Libman, Air Liquide-Balazs NanoAnalysis;
- John Morgan, H2Morgan LLC;
- Dan Wilcox, Samsung Austin Semiconductor; and
- Bernie Zerfas, Globalfoundries
UPW Micro 2016 kicked off with a Young Professionals and STEM students networking reception. Young professionals from Samsung Austin Semiconductor and Lanxess discussed their experiences entering the semiconductor manufacturing business through water management.
The conference also featured presentations, roundtable sessions and panel discussions, as well as exhibits by suppliers of water treatment products and services to the microelectronics industry.
UPW Micro 2016 was co-located with Ultrapure Water Journal’s conference on pharmaceutical water: UPW Pharma 2016, which brought together chemists, scientists and engineers to discuss best practices, process breakthroughs and regulatory developments regarding water for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals.
That conference’s theme this year was “Optimizing Pharmaceutical Water System Life Cycle.”
iWWD looks forward to continuing to monitor the microelectronics and pharmaceutical industries’ water and wastewater management practices, and we’d like to hear from our readers involved in these markets. Please write to me with any trends you’re noticing or ideas for future iWWD editorial coverage.
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