IBM has been, for long, a pioneer in technological advancement & gadgetry. Now they have come up with a unique eco-friendly way to solve the problem of Silicon shortage. While the technology might not solve the problem entirely, it solves it to an extent. IBM intends to recycle old trash to obtain silicon from it, that the world solar industry so desperately needs. Well, it’s not any trash. IBM intends to recycle scrap silicon by using water to make it reusable in solar panels.
Scrap wafers from industries are actually bought by the company to make sure they undergo this process. Scrap wafers are generally cleared of previous contents by using chemicals. But the company has developed a unique way of scrapping the wafers along with water, to make them reusable. I wonder if this is like cleaning the kitchen sink. Well, yes, my imagination is pretty limited & so is my intelligence, as you can see.
Seriously speaking, this is great for the environment as IBM’s way of making the wafers reusable does not involve any chemicals. It looks clean & above all else, it will reduce the growing scarcity for silicon across the globe. While silicon from scrap accounts for little market share, it is still substantially good enough. With the scarcity only growing each day, this industry seems t have a bright future.
Here is the final product:
IBM estimates that around 3 million wafers get scrapped a year. IBM, being the angel that it is, wants to share this technology with every company (really!! No patents!! I’m amazed!) But they decline to tell precisely when & how they intend to do this (Ha…ha…I knew this was too good to be true…If the technology makes profit, they won’t share a dime) I say, expect them to patent the new way of scrapping very soon & then try to establish a monopoly on the industry. All this, if it proves profitable. If it is not, they will share it, claim to be saviors of the world & gain some mileage from it. It is all fair & a part of the business & as long as it benefits the ecology, I won’t be complaining too much.
