Cradle-to-Gate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of GaN Power Semiconductor Device

Laura Vauche (), Gabin Guillemaud, Joao-Carlos Lopes Barbosa and Léa Di Cioccio
Additional contact information
Laura Vauche: CEA, LETI, University Grenoble Alpes, F-38000 Grenoble, France
Gabin Guillemaud: CEA, LETI, University Grenoble Alpes, F-38000 Grenoble, France
Joao-Carlos Lopes Barbosa: CEA, LETI, University Grenoble Alpes, F-38000 Grenoble, France
Léa Di Cioccio: CEA, LETI, University Grenoble Alpes, F-38000 Grenoble, France

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 2, 1-18

Abstract: Wide Band Gap (WBG) semiconductors have the potential to provide significant improvements in energy efficiency over conventional silicon (Si) semiconductors. While the potential for energy efficiency gains is widely researched, the relation to the energy and resource use during manufacturing processes remains insufficiently studied. In order to appraise the performance of the technology thoroughly, issues such as raw material scarcity, toxicity and environmental impacts need to be investigated in detail. However, sparse Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) data are available for the two currently most widespread WBG semiconductor materials, gallium nitride (GaN or GaN/Si) and silicon carbide (SiC). This paper, for the first time, presents a cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment for a GaN/Si power device. To allow for a full range of indicators, life cycle assessment method EF 3.1 was used to analyze the results. The results identify environmental hotspots associated with different materials and processes: electricity consumption for the processes and clean room facilities, direct emissions of greenhouse gases, gold (when used), and volatile organic chemicals. Finally, we compare this result with publicly available data for Si, GaN and SiC power devices.

Keywords: GaN; power devices; environmental impact assessment; cradle-to-gate; life cycle assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/2/901/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/2/901/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:2:p:901-:d:1323207

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().