High-performance green semiconductor devices: materials, designs, and fabrication

From large industrial computers to non-portable home appliances and finally to light-weight portable gadgets, the rapid evolution of electronics has facilitated our daily pursuits and increased our life comforts. However, these rapid advances have led to a significant decrease in the lifetime of consumer electronics. The serious environmental threat that comes from electronic waste not only involves materials like plastics and heavy metals, but also includes toxic materials like mercury, cadmium, arsenic, and lead, which can leak into the ground and contaminate the water we drink, the food we eat, and the animals that live around us. Furthermore, most electronics are comprised of non-renewable, non-biodegradable, and potentially toxic materials. Difficulties in recycling the increasing amount of electronic waste could eventually lead to permanent environmental pollution. As such, discarded electronics that can naturally degrade over time would reduce recycling challenges and minimize their threat to the environment. This review provides a snapshot of the current developments and challenges of green electronics at the semiconductor device level. It looks at the developments that have been made in an effort to help reduce the accumulation of electronic waste by utilizing unconventional, biodegradable materials as components. While many semiconductors are classified as non-biodegradable, a few biodegradable semiconducting materials exist and are used as electrical components. This review begins with a discussion of biodegradable materials for electronics, followed by designs and processes for the manufacturing of green electronics using different techniques and designs. In the later sections of the review, various examples of biodegradable electrical components, such as sensors, circuits, and batteries, that together can form a functional electronic device, are discussed and new applications using green electronics are reviewed.