Submission + - IBM to recycle silicon for solar (computerworld.com.au)
inkslinger77 writes: "IBM has created a process allowing its manufacturing facilities to re-purpose otherwise scrap semiconductor wafers.
Since the silicon wafers need to be nearly flawless in order to be used, the imperfect ones are normally erased with acidic chemicals and discarded but IBM had been sandblasting theirs to remove proprietary material, and then either re-using them for test purposes or selling them to the solar industry.
Annually, IBM estimates that the semiconductor industry discards as many as 3 million wafers worldwide."
