26 / 84
n January 28, 2016, the 14
partners of the European
NanoStreeM
project
gathered
at imec for the project's kick-off
meeting. Together, they will build an
inventory of all the nanomaterials
that are used in today's and future
semiconductor
manufacturing
processes. The consortium will
evaluate methodologies for risk
assessment to protect human
health and the environment. Imec's
Dimiter Prodanov, coordinator of
the NanoStreeM project, talks about
nanomaterials in semiconductor
manufacturing and the precautionary
approach to risk assessment and risk
management.
Nanomaterials in the
semiconductor fab
As Moore's Law proceeds and
transistor dimensions continue
to shrink, a variety of novel
nanostructured materials enter the
semiconductor fab. Most of these
materials have poorly understood
hazardous properties. And this has
become a shared concern of the
semiconductor industry. Dimiter
Prodanov: "Understanding how
these materials affect human health,
other biological systems and the
environment is a relatively new area
of scientific study. 50 how can we
safely handle these materials? Which
nanomaterials are being used and
will be used in the future, and what
is their potential danger? What is the
risk for exposure by the fab workers?
And how can the risks be assessed
and managed? That will be the focus
area of the Nano5treeM project. "The
project, coordinated by imec, gathers
14 partners from 3 different worlds
(R&D, industry and academia),
active in various aspects of materials
and semiconductor research and
processing industry and academia),
active in various aspects of materials
and semiconductor research and
processing.
To be clear, the project will not
deal with the risks of nanomaterials
in consumer products. Dimiter
Prodanov: "In fact, there are two
approaches to nanotechnology. One
is the bottom-up approach, where
researchers or industry synthetize
nanoparticles with special properties
and introduce them in consumer
products such as bicycles, paints,
coatings, medicines or cosmetics.
This will not be the focus of the
project. NanoStreeM will deal with
a second approach, the top-down
O
RISK ASSESSMENT OF NANOMATERIALS
Dr. Mieke Van Bavel, Imec
26 l New-Tech Magazine Europe