Comment by sanjayjc
10 hours ago
Alternate semiconductor materials (Graphene, SiC) could circumvent some of the expensive steps required for Si, but not all. Here's a good article about the unimaginably high purity standards for the water used in the industry:
https://www.asianometry.com/p/the-purest-water-in-the-world
The average fab uses about 2,000 gallons of ultrapure water each minute, 2-3 million gallons each day.
Pipes and tubing are constantly shedding particles into flowing water - with random bursts that drive everyone crazy.
Once the killer particle size limit ratcheted down to 20 nanometers - a limit we hit roughly about ten years ago - engineers realized that there existed no detection tool for consistently detecting sub-10 nanometer particles in low quantities.
It is also possible to make water filters and air filters out of graphene layers with one or more pore sizes.
The pore size of graphene can be varied parametrically.
Water filters and air filters and superconducting electronic computers can be made by stacking layers of graphene.
Some products made out of graphene are compostable. Other forms of carbon are considered soil amendments.
Does or would passive distillation allow some of the waste sediment to settle?
Graphene can be added to concrete to make it stronger.
Could the graphene in water from next generation graphene-based semiconductor and superconductor production be used as a concrete additive?