The electronics industry has witnessed massive growth over the past few decades, with electronic devices becoming an integral part of modern life. However, this growth has also led to significant environmental impacts, including high energy consumption, resource depletion, and electronic waste (e-waste). According to the UN, waste electronics is the fastest growing and most hazardous waste stream globally. This has resulted in an increasing need to make electronics manufacturing more sustainable and environmentally friendly, leading to the emergence of "green electronics" as an approach to reducing the electronics industry's environmental footprint.
Development of sustainable printed circuit board (PCB) designs has grown recently as part of the push for green manufacturing. Traditional PCB manufacturing relies on energy intensive and high-emission processes that involve copper, epoxy resin, glass fiber, and water that are harmful to the environment. Recycling techniques have low efficiency and include laborious processes.
New materials are being utilized that are easily recyclable, and biodegradable polymers and paper PCBs are used in PCB manufacturing. Environmentally friendly etchants for existing subtractive processes and additive manufacturing such as inkjet and laser printing is also increasingly utilized. By employing additive methods, energy consumption during manufacturing can be even five times less than with conventional methods. Sustainable and printable substrate materials including different cellulose and wood-based materials, bioplastics, and biocomposites have been developed.
The Global Market for Green and Sustainable Electronics Manufacturing 2024-2034 provides a comprehensive analysis of the global green electronics manufacturing industry. The report covers industry trends, drivers, challenges, approaches, technologies, materials, processes, and leading companies across printed circuit boards (PCBs), integrated circuits (ICs), batteries, assembly, and the electronics supply chain. Market revenues and forecasts are provided for sustainable PCBs and ICs, segmented by substrate and process types, through 2034.
The report profiles 40+ innovative companies offering greener materials, chemistries, equipment and manufacturing services enabling the transition to more circular, lower carbon electronics. Multiple tables summarize key manufacturers, processes, materials, and sustainability strategies for green electronics.
Analysis is provided on trends in renewables, additive processes, biobased and recycled materials, toxicity reduction, supply chain transparency, e-waste recovery, and life cycle optimization to minimize electronics' environmental footprint. The report helps electronics OEMs, PCBs, ICs, EMS companies and suppliers benchmark sustainability efforts and identify new opportunities.
Report contents include:
- Overview of green electronics manufacturing and drivers for sustainability such as e-waste reduction, lower emissions, and resource efficiency.
- Analysis of environmental impacts like carbon emissions, water usage, and waste.
- Regulations and certifications promoting sustainable electronics.
- Powering electronics through renewable batteries.
- Use of bioplastics for injection molded parts.
- Comparison of conventional vs sustainable manufacturing approaches.
- Analysis of strategies including renewable energy, materials efficiency, sustainable chemistry, recycled materials, and supply chain management.
- Sustainable PCB manufacturing including materials, substrates, patterning, component attachment.
- Sustainable integrated circuits manufacturing.
- End-of-life considerations for electronics.
- Global PCB market size and forecast 2018-2034.
- Sustainable PCB and IC revenue forecasts segmented by technology type.
- Profiles of 40+ companies providing green materials, equipment, and manufacturing services. Companies profiled include DP Patterning, Elephantech, Infineon Technologies, Jiva Materials, Samsung, Syenta, and Tactotek. Additional information on bio-based battery, conductive ink, green & lead-free solder and halogen-free FR4 companies.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
- 1.1. Green electronics manufacturing
- 1.2. Drivers for sustainable electronics
- 1.3. Environmental Impacts of Electronics Manufacturing
- 1.3.1. E-Waste Generation
- 1.3.2. Carbon Emissions
- 1.3.3. Resource Utilization
- 1.3.4. Waste Minimization
- 1.3.5. Supply Chain Impacts
- 1.4. New opportunities from sustainable electronics
- 1.5. Regulations
- 1.6. Powering sustainable electronics (Bio-based batteries)
- 1.7. Bioplastics in injection moulded electronics parts
2. GREEN ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING
- 2.1. Conventional electronics manufacturing
- 2.2. Benefits of Green Electronics manufacturing
- 2.3. Challenges in adopting Green Electronics manufacturing
- 2.4. Approaches
- 2.4.1. Closed-Loop Manufacturing
- 2.4.2. Digital Manufacturing
- 2.4.2.1. Advanced robotics & automation
- 2.4.2.2. AI & machine learning analytics
- 2.4.2.3. Internet of Things (IoT)
- 2.4.2.4. Additive manufacturing
- 2.4.2.5. Virtual prototyping
- 2.4.2.6. Blockchain-enabled supply chain traceability
- 2.4.3. Renewable Energy Usage
- 2.4.4. Energy Efficiency
- 2.4.5. Materials Efficiency
- 2.4.6. Sustainable Chemistry
- 2.4.7. Recycled Materials
- 2.4.7.1. Advanced chemical recycling
- 2.4.8. Bio-Based Materials
- 2.5. Greening the Supply Chain
- 2.5.1. Key focus areas
- 2.5.2. Sustainability activities from major electronics brands
- 2.5.3. Key challenges
- 2.5.4. Use of digital technologies
- 2.6. SUSTAINABLE PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD (PCB) MANUFACTURING
- 2.6.1. Conventional PCB manufacturing
- 2.6.2. Trends in PCBs
- 2.6.2.1. High-Speed PCBs
- 2.6.2.2. Flexible PCBs
- 2.6.2.3. 3D Printed PCBs
- 2.6.2.4. Sustainable PCBs
- 2.6.3. Reconciling sustainability with performance
- 2.6.4. Sustainable supply chains
- 2.6.5. Sustainability in PCB manufacturing
- 2.6.5.1. Sustainable cleaning of PCBs
- 2.6.6. Design of PCBs for sustainability
- 2.6.6.1. Rigid
- 2.6.6.2. Flexible
- 2.6.6.3. Additive manufacturing
- 2.6.6.4. In-mold elctronics (IME)
- 2.6.7. Materials
- 2.6.7.1. Metal cores
- 2.6.7.2. Recycled laminates
- 2.6.7.3. Conductive inks
- 2.6.7.4. Green and lead-free solder
- 2.6.7.5. Biodegradable substrates
- 2.6.7.5.1. Bacterial Cellulose
- 2.6.7.5.2. Mycelium
- 2.6.7.5.3. Lignin
- 2.6.7.5.4. Cellulose Nanofibers
- 2.6.7.5.5. Soy Protein
- 2.6.7.5.6. Algae
- 2.6.7.5.7. PHAs
- 2.6.7.6. Biobased inks
- 2.6.8. Substrates
- 2.6.8.1. Halogen-free FR4
- 2.6.8.1.1. FR4 limitations
- 2.6.8.1.2. FR4 alternatives
- 2.6.8.1.3. Bio-Polyimide
- 2.6.8.2. Metal-core PCBs
- 2.6.8.3. Biobased PCBs
- 2.6.8.3.1. Flexible (bio) polyimide PCBs
- 2.6.8.3.2. Recent commercial activity
- 2.6.8.4. Paper-based PCBs
- 2.6.8.5. PCBs without solder mask
- 2.6.8.6. Thinner dielectrics
- 2.6.8.7. Recycled plastic substrates
- 2.6.8.8. Flexible substrates
- 2.6.9. Sustainable patterning and metallization in electronics manufacturing
- 2.6.9.1. Introduction
- 2.6.9.2. Issues with sustainability
- 2.6.9.3. Regeneration and reuse of etching chemicals
- 2.6.9.4. Transition from Wet to Dry phase patterning
- 2.6.9.5. Print-and-plate
- 2.6.9.6. Approaches
- 2.6.9.6.1. Direct Printed Electronics
- 2.6.9.6.2. Photonic Sintering
- 2.6.9.6.3. Biometallization
- 2.6.9.6.4. Plating Resist Alternatives
- 2.6.9.6.5. Laser-Induced Forward Transfer
- 2.6.9.6.6. Electrohydrodynamic Printing
- 2.6.9.6.7. Electrically conductive adhesives (ECAs
- 2.6.9.6.8. Green electroless plating
- 2.6.9.6.9. Smart Masking
- 2.6.9.6.10. Component Integration
- 2.6.9.6.11. Bio-inspired material deposition
- 2.6.9.6.12. Multi-material jetting
- 2.6.9.6.13. Vacuumless deposition
- 2.6.9.6.14. Upcycling waste streams
- 2.6.10. Sustainable attachment and integration of components
- 2.6.10.1. Conventional component attachment materials
- 2.6.10.2. Materials
- 2.6.10.2.1. Conductive adhesives
- 2.6.10.2.2. Biodegradable adhesives
- 2.6.10.2.3. Magnets
- 2.6.10.2.4. Bio-based solders
- 2.6.10.2.5. Bio-derived solders
- 2.6.10.2.6. Recycled plastics
- 2.6.10.2.7. Nano adhesives
- 2.6.10.2.8. Shape memory polymers
- 2.6.10.2.9. Photo-reversible polymers
- 2.6.10.2.10. Conductive biopolymers
- 2.6.10.3. Processes
- 2.6.10.3.1. Traditional thermal processing methods
- 2.6.10.3.2. Low temperature solder
- 2.6.10.3.3. Reflow soldering
- 2.6.10.3.4. Induction soldering
- 2.6.10.3.5. UV curing
- 2.6.10.3.6. Near-infrared (NIR) radiation curing
- 2.6.10.3.7. Photonic sintering/curing
- 2.6.10.3.8. Component embedding
- 2.6.10.3.9. Hybrid integration
- 2.7. SUSTAINABLE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS (IC)
- 2.7.1. IC manufacturing
- 2.7.2. Sustainable IC manufacturing
- 2.7.3. Wafer production
- 2.7.3.1. Silicon
- 2.7.3.2. Gallium nitride ICs
- 2.7.3.3. Flexible ICs
- 2.7.3.4. Fully printed organic ICs
- 2.7.4. Oxidation methods
- 2.7.4.1. Sustainable oxidation
- 2.7.4.2. Metal oxides
- 2.7.4.3. Recycling
- 2.7.4.4. Thin gate oxide layers
- 2.7.5. Patterning and doping
- 2.7.5.1. Processes
- 2.7.5.1.1. Wet etching
- 2.7.5.1.2. Dry plasma etching
- 2.7.5.1.3. Lift-off patterning
- 2.7.5.1.4. Surface doping
- 2.7.6. Metallization
- 2.7.6.1. Evaporation
- 2.7.6.2. Plating
- 2.7.6.3. Printing
- 2.7.6.3.1. Printed metal gates for organic thin film transistors
- 2.7.6.4. Physical vapour deposition (PVD)
- 2.8. End of life
- 2.8.1. Hazardous waste
- 2.8.2. Emissions
- 2.8.3. Water Usage
- 2.8.4. Recycling
- 2.8.4.1. Mechanical recycling
- 2.8.4.2. Electro-Mechanical Separation
- 2.8.4.3. Chemical Recycling
- 2.8.4.4. Electrochemical Processes
- 2.8.4.5. Thermal Recycling
- 2.8.5. Green Certification
3. GLOBAL MARKET AND REVENUES 2018-
- 3.1. Global PCB manufacturing industry
- 3.2. Sustainable PCBs
- 3.3. Sustainable ICs
4. COMPANY PROFILES (44 company profiles)
5. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
- 5.1. Objectives of This Report
6. REFERENCES