Gallium Arsenide Microchip Manufacturing Process

1 DESCRIPTION OF GALLIUM ARSENIDE MICROCHIP MANUFACTURING PROCESS 

A brief description of the major steps required to produce GaAs microchips at Hewlett Packard s San Jose facility follows- 

Elemental forms of gallium and arsenic, plus small quantities of dopant material — silicon, tellurium or chromium — are reacted at elevated temperatures to form ingots of doped single-crystal GaAs. 

The ends or tails of the single-crystal ingot are removed using a water-lubricated single-bladed diamond saw, with various coolants added to the water. 

Gallium arsenide ingots are wax mounted to a graphite beam and sawed into individual wafers through the use of automatically operated inner diameter (ID) diamond blade saws. This operation is done wet with the use of lubricants and generates a gallium arsenide slurry. 

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GALLIUM-ARSENIDE MICROCHIP MANUFACTURING ARSENIC PROCESS WASTE FLOW DIAGRAM ARSENIC PRODUCTION RATES... 

Many electronic companies in the State of California create a substantial volume of arsenic waste through the processing or manufacture of gallium arsenide (GaAs) microchips. Since the concentration of arsenic in wastewaters or sludges usually exceeds disposal limits for sewer and municipal landfills, these wastes are quite often treated and disposed to a Class I hazardous landfill. This practice is undesirable environmentally and economically as a long-term mechanism for waste disposal. 

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