Chipmakers' silicon scraps feed solar industry's hunger

Iria · May 23, 2007, 07:13 PM

Source: News.com
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Texas Instruments is finding millions of dollars in the garbage.

The chipmaker historically had sold its scrap silicon wafers--those wafers that, for one reason or another, can't be used to produce chips--at garage-sale-like events near its Richardson, Texas, headquarters. A 55-gallon drum of old wafers might have gone to a local hobbyist for $100 or so, according to Mike Hayden, the silicon procurement engineering manager at TI.

But as demand for processed, high-grade silicon substrates began to escalate in 2004, TI re-examined its policies and started selling its scrap wafers to makers of solar energy gear.

May 23, 2007, 07:13 PM	#1
Iria DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 7,275 Rep Power: 89	Chipmakers' silicon scraps feed solar industry's hunger Source: News.com _______ Texas Instruments is finding millions of dollars in the garbage. The chipmaker historically had sold its scrap silicon wafers--those wafers that, for one reason or another, can't be used to produce chips--at garage-sale-like events near its Richardson, Texas, headquarters. A 55-gallon drum of old wafers might have gone to a local hobbyist for $100 or so, according to Mike Hayden, the silicon procurement engineering manager at TI. But as demand for processed, high-grade silicon substrates began to escalate in 2004, TI re-examined its policies and started selling its scrap wafers to makers of solar energy gear.