RECYCLING TELLURIUM AND OTHER MATERIALS UTILIZED IN TEG MANUFACTURING
The recycling embodiments herein provide cyclical manufacturing of bulk semiconductor materials. In one embodiment, a method for recycling materials used in a semiconductor manufacturing process (e.g., a TEG manufacturing process) includes cutting one or more semiconductor wafers into a plurality of semiconductor components, and retrieving waste materials resulting from said cutting. The method also includes forming an ingot of semiconductor manufacturing material (e.g., tellurium) from the waste materials, and zone melting the ingot to remove impurities from the ingot.
1 . A method for recycling materials used in a semiconductor manufacturing process, comprising:
cutting one or more semiconductor wafers into a plurality of semiconductor components;
retrieving waste materials resulting from said cutting;
forming an ingot of semiconductor manufacturing material from the waste materials; and
zone melting the ingot to remove impurities from the ingot.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein forming an ingot further comprises:
adding tellurium to the retrieved waste materials to obtain a predetermined chemical balance of tellurium.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein forming an ingot further comprises:
melting the retrieved waste materials to form the semiconductor manufacturing material into a crystalline state.
4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
removing at least one of metals, solder, or diffusion layers from the waste materials via a chemical bath.
5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
removing at least one of metals, solder, or diffusion layers from the waste materials via a mechanical abrasion.
6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
preparing the ingot for subsequent semiconductor manufacturing use by grinding and homogenizing the ingot into a powder.
7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
performing an x-ray diffraction and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry on the powder to determine a purity of the powder.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the semiconductor manufacturing material includes tellurium.