Sustainable Solutions for Gallium and Arsenic Extraction from Semiconductor Industry Waste – A Comprehensive Review
Department of Chemical Engineering, Gayatri Vidya Parishad College of Engineering, Visakhapatnam, India
Soumya Ramsahayam
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) is widely used, as a substrate, in the semiconductor industry because of its versatile applications. However, the continuous utilization of this compound has raised many environmental concerns related to GaAs toxicity. During the manufacturing and processing, a tremendous amount of unproductive GaAs is formed, and the wastewater discharged after cleaning the substrate contains both Gallium (Ga) and Arsenic (As) which is hazardous and carcinogenic to the living organisms. This review highlights the environmental challenges associated with the use of GaAs in semiconductor manufacturing and discusses the current advancements and techniques implemented in semiconductor fabrication plants to minimize waste and improve the recovery and recycling of these materials. The review emphasizes the importance of developing sustainable practices to mitigate the environmental impact of semiconductor manufacturing, aiming to enhance industry sustainability by refining recovery processes and reducing the reliance on novel material extraction.