Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) is currently one of the most important topics in the semiconductor industry and is inseparable from the concept of circular economy.
Thus, in view of the increasing importance of sustainability, the TIPO’s report provides an analysis of patent applications related to waste treatment of copper, silica mud and hydrogen in the semiconductor industry.
1. Applications related to copper recycling
Relevant technologies for copper recycling are known from metallurgy and can be roughly divided into: pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, microbial metallurgy and other technologies according to processing manners.
The five major patent offices (the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO), the European Patent Office (EPO), the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) and the Korea Intellectual Property Office (KIPO)) rank among the top five patent offices in the world in terms of the number of patent applications for copper recycling (accounting for approximately 70.8% of patent applications worldwide). In respect of regional distribution, applicants from countries in the Asian region filed the majority of applications (accounting for approximately 62% of patent applications worldwide). European, American and Australian applicants also filed a significant number of applications (accounting for 25% of patent applications worldwide) due to their long histories of large mining companies (for example, BHP (Australia), OUTOTEC (Finland), etc.).
2. Applications related to silica mud recycling
Silica mud recycling is mainly carried out by solid liquid separation. The related technologies can be roughly divided into: filtration, centrifugation, flotation, fusion or liquefaction, vaporization, magnetic separation, gravity separation, hydrocyclone, electrostatic separation, vacuum microwave drying, etc.
The five major patent offices and the TIPO rank among the top six patent offices in the world in terms of the number of patent applications related to silica mud recycling, (accounting for approximately 93.7% of patent applications worldwide). In respect of regional distribution, applicants from countries in the Asian region filed the majority of applications (accounting for approximately 86.5% of patent applications worldwide), while the number of applications filed by European and American applicants is relatively small (accounting for approximately 7.2% of patent applications worldwide).
3. Applications related to hydrogen recovery
Hydrogen recovery is mainly related to the technology of gas purification. The basic classification can be: membrane separation, pressure swing adsorption, cryogenic distillation, temperature swing adsorption, molecular sieve, solvent absorption, metal hydride, etc.
Except for the KIPO, the other major patent offices rank among the top four in the world in terms of patent applications related to hydrogen recovery (accounting for approximately 76.4% of patent applications worldwide). In respect of regional distribution, applicants from countries in the Asian region filed the majority of applications (accounting for approximately 59.2% of patent applications worldwide). Due to the earlier development of hydrogen energy in these countries, European and American applicants also filed a considerable number of applications (accounting for about 33.8% of patent applications worldwide).
(Summarized and translated from the News published on the TIPO’s website)
*Section Chief of International Patent Division at Tai E International Patent & Law Office
