IBM is transforming its scrap silicon wafers into profitable material used to produce solar panels.

By stripping the etched layers of semiconductor designs that contain intellectual property, IBM can repurpose the scrap wafers to sell to the solar industry, which is suffering from a silicon shortage.

Chipmakers use silicon wafers as the starting material for manufacturing microelectronic products. IBM estimates that up to 3.3 per cent of its started wafers get scrapped. This amounts to approximately three million discarded wafers per year, the company said. Usually those wafers are crushed and sent to landfills or melted down and resold.

The price of polysilicon wafers for solar cells has steadily been rising as the worldwide green infatuation has put a shortage on the necessary materials. Some predict that a continued cost increase, will push solar makers beyond their profit margins.

Article taken from The Register