Sustainability Menu
Sustainability Menu
In addition to the dedication to providing core products with market competitiveness to meet our customers' demands, as a citizen of the Earth, UMC has also taken on the responsibility of developing green products with efforts to cherish resources and protect the environment starting from the source. In addition to reducing resource consumption and unnecessary pollution during the production process, we have taken our efforts a step further to acquire green factory certificates to strive to be a good green role model.
Considerations for green products at each stage |
Product Liability |
In June 2006, UMC completed Hazardous Substance Process Management (HSPM) and has received IECQ QC080000 qualification, which made UMC the first semiconductor manufacturer in the world to achieve QC080000 HSPM for all fabs. To ensure the products provided to customers meet international standards and customer requirements like EU RoHS, EU REACH, Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer et al., we tried our best to reduce environmental impact and to reach customer request. |
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Regarding product safety, UMC poses no direct potential threats to its customers or the general public since UMC does not have its own end products. However, to ensure that products provided to customers meet international standards and customer requirements, UMC established a cross-divisional HSPM committee to improve the efficacy of green product management. We have completed third-party QC080000 IECQ certification for management of hazardous substances to ensure that UMC provides products that conform with RoHS directives and customers' requirements.
Hazardous Substance Management |
The QC080000 IECQ HSPM standard is based on the "flow orientation" measure to manage the use of hazardous substances, which covers the stages from design and development, procurement, and manufacturing to shipment. The success of this system demonstrates UMC's capability in managing hazardous substances and ensures UMC provides environmental friendly products that are free of hazardous substances that conform to customers' requirements and international regulations.
Hazardous Substance Free Policy |
Based on awareness among all employees, and through design and production management controls and improved technical abilities, UMC shall provide products in accordance with the demands of customers as well as laws and regulations for the management of HSF (Hazardous Substance Free) materials, to fulfill our duty as a global citizen to protect the environment and to protect personal health and safety.
Green Procurement Process of Raw Materials |
Hazardous substances control is also applied to material merchandising. All materials that violate the control will be deemed as disqualified products and returned to the suppliers, who are then required to provide correction and prevention measures.
Constructed a New System for Evaluating Raw Materials |
To effectively manage new materials used in newly developed manufacturing, UMC has constructed a sound process for evaluating new materials to determine if they are banned / controlled toxic or hazardous substances and fully determine their impact on environmental safety and health.
SONY Green Partner |
UMC became a Sony Green Partner in 2003, and passed and maintained qualification since then. These actions demonstrate that UMC's progress in hazardous substance management has gained recognition from our customers.
Hazardous Substances Replacement Program |
UMC Group has plans to phase out hazardous raw materials through replacement programs to reduce the impact of chemicals to the environment. The target substances are chosen based on international environmental protection trends, government laws and regulations, and customer requirements.
UMC Group has long been paying attention to the development trends of international environmental protection regulations. During the drafting stage of relevant regulations, it made early arrangements to launch the "assessment plan" for hazardous substances. After the relevant regulations are finalized and announced, the "replacement plan" will be implemented immediately in the fab.
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Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Management |
Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Management
With the expansion of the scope of international control of PFAS substances, such as the recent PFAS restriction proposal proposed by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), UMC Group began to make advance arrangements during the proposal stage, and successively took stock of the materials used in the manufacturing process. Existing materials use supplier questionnaires to understand whether their raw materials contain PFAS, and discuss with suppliers the possibility of replacing related substances to respond in advance.
For materials that are difficult to replace (such as photoresist), suppliers are required to provide proof and seek exemptions through the ECHA platform. For substitutable materials, suppliers are required to provide substitutes and successive evaluations of substitutions are made.
In the future, UMC Group will continue to pay attention to the development trends of international regulations and participate in discussions at domestic and foreign organizations to respond to relevant regulatory impacts in advance, ensure the stability of operations and production, and implement the sustainable strategic direction of minimizing environmental footprints.
NMP Replacement Plan |
In addition to extending the acid exchange cycle of N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) and simplifying the manufacturing process to reduce the usage of NMP, UMC Group has launched an NMP complete replacement evaluation plan since 2020 and successfully developed a weakly acidic solvent by the end of 2022. It can replace the cleaning function of NMP. And starting from 2023, replacement operations will be carried out in the 8" fabs.
Adhering to the concept of protecting the environment and caring for the planet, and in response to the implementation of various hazardous substance substitution programs, UMC Group is committed to developing and promoting environmentally friendly reuse chemicals in various semiconductor manufacturing processes, and has achieved considerable results. In the future, we will promote the application of newly developed green chemicals to mature processes, replace the chemicals used in the existing cleaning process, and practice green and environmentally friendly processes to reduce the harm to the environment in semiconductor manufacturing, and complete the development of a green chemical or process every year since 2018~2023.
Looking ahead, UMC will continue to develop a new generation of green process R&D programs, promote the advancement of green process technologies, and achieve the goal of fulfilling the responsibility of product production and minimizing environmental impact through source substitution and process reduction.
Product Environmental Impact Assessment |
UMC is committed to maximizing production efficiency while also minimizing environmental impact. To achieve this goal, the Company employs various environmental assessment tools to assist in strategy formulation and implementing measures.
Product Lifecycle Assessment, LCA |
Since 2005, UMC has implemented lifecycle assessment in all its fabs, which covers from “cradle to gate” (UMC shipment) and assesses items including energy consumption, raw materials usage, and emissions. The Company systematically and constantly monitors the environmental impact of its products through the inventory results of supply chain and manufacture process. To assist with this effort, UMC utilizes the Simapro software to map out the environmental impact assessment.
Product Carbon Footprint |
As an upstream manufacturer in the semiconductor industry, providing customers with high-quality and eco-friendly products that comply with environmental regulations has always been one of UMC’s most regarded business values. Therefore, the Company not only conducts inventory and verification of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in its operations, but also implements a comprehensive GHG management plan. In addition, UMC proactively promotes the product carbon footprint inventory program, following ISO 14067:2018 to complete the carbon footprint inventory of wafer manufactured in all UMC fabs, and obtaining third-party verification to identify key stages in the product lifecycle with potential for GHG reduction.
Product Water Footprint |
Affected by climate change and extreme weather, global water resources have become one of the most discussed topics. Water resources are critical and essential in semiconductor manufacturing processes. Following the Business Water Footprint Accounting standards developed by international non-profit organization Water Footprint Network, UMC led the industry in completing the water footprint verification of its 8-inch and 12-inch fabs in 2010.
LCA to Go Project |
The European market is one of the important markets for UMC. It's an advanced area with regard to the development of green measures. We are honored to participate in FP-7 as it gave us the chance to invest efforts in developing and establishing green measurement. Joining this project improved our ability to inventory and predict CFP, thus enhancing our foundry service to customers by providing them with specific CFP information. The simplified LCA tool that we developed could help SMEs quickly obtain CFP without incurring high costs.
To fulfill its duties as a global and corporate citizen, UMC has made efforts to promote carbon disclosure with significant investment of financial and human resources. With the help from Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), in 2010 UMC became an official member of the FP7. We started working with 18 teams from 9 member organizations from industry, government and academia to jointly develop "Boosting Life Cycle Assessment use in SMEs: development of sectoral methods and tools." With extensive experience in carbon footprint and robust supply chains, UMC led the case study for carbon footprint tool applications for the semiconductor industry to build a "carbon footprint calculator" that includes a simple universal calculation method. With UMC's carbon footprint experience and the support of supply chain partners, our collaboration with the EU in green technology provides small and medium enterprises in Taiwan with comprehensive, tailored, low carbon services. We also help them acquire information on their products' carbon footprint with minimal time and resources to reduce negative impact from green trade barriers. At the same time, the results of the "LCA to go" project will promote carbon reduction and raise low-carbon competitiveness for the industry. With considerable efforts in recent years, UMC has achieved international standards in terms of green technology development and received wide recognition among different EU sectors.
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