Context
Environmental assessments of semiconductormanufacturing often focus on the electricity, gases, chemicals, and water usedduring production. The buildings and facility systems that support thisproduction receive much less attention and are often represented using genericconstruction factors or excluded from the model altogether. A recent scoperevision of imec.netzero, imec's life-cycle assessment platform forsemiconductor manufacturing, showed that these infrastructure elements can makea meaningful contribution to the environmental footprint per wafer. It alsohighlighted substantial uncertainty, as published studies use different systemboundaries and rarely report the detailed quantities needed to represent asemiconductor fab accurately.
High-volume semiconductor fabs are also verydifferent from conventional buildings. They combine large concrete and steelstructures with specialised cleanroom elements such as partitions, ceilings,and raised floors. They also contain extensive HVAC, electrical, gas, water,and wastewater networks, together with central air-handling, cooling, power,and process-utility equipment. Automated material-handling systems, supportbuildings, and site infrastructure add further complexity.
This project will develop a modular andtraceable life-cycle model covering the physical infrastructure within theboundary of a generic high-volume 300-mm fab. The model will make theenvironmental impact of fab infrastructure an explicit and quantifiable part ofsemiconductor life-cycle assessment, allowing infrastructure design choices tobe directly linked to their impact per processed wafer.
Objective
Theproject will build and implement the fab infrastructure model in imec.netzero.. Itwill cover the main infrastructure elements at a consistent level, with moredetail where the environmental impact or uncertainty is highest.
The work will include:
Responsibilities
You willwork with the sustainability team and, where possible, cleanroom and facilityexperts to collect the required data and carry out the LCA.
Your workwill include:
Skills and Learning Objectives
Experience with life-cycle assessment isrequired. Familiarity with construction materials, building services, BIM,quantity take-offs, or environmental product declarations is an advantage.
During the project, you will gain experience in:
Type of internship: Master internship, PhD internship
Duration: 6 month to 1 year
Required educational background: Other, Materials Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Energy, Finance
Supervising scientist(s): For further information or for application, please contact Hanie Zarafshani (< E-Mail aus Sicherheitsgründen gelöscht >) and Job Soethoudt (< E-Mail aus Sicherheitsgründen gelöscht >)
The reference code for this position is 2026-INT-258. Mention this reference code in your application.
Imec allowance will be provided.
Applications should include the following information:
Incomplete applications will not be considered.
Environmental assessments of semiconductormanufacturing often focus on the electricity, gases, chemicals, and water usedduring production. The buildings and facility systems that support thisproduction receive much less attention and are often represented using genericconstruction factors or excluded from the model altogether. A recent scoperevision of imec.netzero, imec's life-cycle assessment platform forsemiconductor manufacturing, showed that these infrastructure elements can makea meaningful contribution to the environmental footprint per wafer. It alsohighlighted substantial uncertainty, as published studies use different systemboundaries and rarely report the detailed quantities needed to represent asemiconductor fab accurately.
High-volume semiconductor fabs are also verydifferent from conventional buildings. They combine large concrete and steelstructures with specialised cleanroom elements such as partitions, ceilings,and raised floors. They also contain extensive HVAC, electrical, gas, water,and wastewater networks, together with central air-handling, cooling, power,and process-utility equipment. Automated material-handling systems, supportbuildings, and site infrastructure add further complexity.
This project will develop a modular andtraceable life-cycle model covering the physical infrastructure within theboundary of a generic high-volume 300-mm fab. The model will make theenvironmental impact of fab infrastructure an explicit and quantifiable part ofsemiconductor life-cycle assessment, allowing infrastructure design choices tobe directly linked to their impact per processed wafer.
Objective
Theproject will build and implement the fab infrastructure model in imec.netzero.. Itwill cover the main infrastructure elements at a consistent level, with moredetail where the environmental impact or uncertainty is highest.
The work will include:
- Setting up aclear structure for the different parts of the fab, including foundations, thebuilding structure, cleanroom fit-out, support buildings, mechanical andelectrical systems, water and wastewater systems, central facility equipment,and automated material handling.
- Building theinventory using available data such as floor areas, quantity take-offs, billsof materials, environmental product declarations, supplier information,construction case studies, and internal data.
- Including themain life-cycle stages, from production and construction to replacement,refurbishment, and end-of-life treatment.
- Using parameters suchas cleanroom area, total floor area, wafer-start capacity, utility capacity,equipment lifetime, and replacement rate to represent different fab designs.
- Calculatingthe environmental impact at different levels, including per facility, persquare metre, per year, and per processed wafer.
Responsibilities
You willwork with the sustainability team and, where possible, cleanroom and facilityexperts to collect the required data and carry out the LCA.
Your workwill include:
- Reviewingrelevant studies, technical data, and available internal information.
- Preparing andchecking the data used in the LCA.
- Building andrunning the LCA calculations.
- Analysing theresults and identifying the main environmental contributors.
- Supporting theimplementation and testing of the model in imec.netzero
Skills and Learning Objectives
Experience with life-cycle assessment isrequired. Familiarity with construction materials, building services, BIM,quantity take-offs, or environmental product declarations is an advantage.
During the project, you will gain experience in:
- Applying LCA to complex industrial buildings and facilities
- Working with construction and facility data from different sources and levels of detail
- Making and documenting modelling choices when data are incomplete
- Assessing data quality and uncertainty in practical LCA work
Type of internship: Master internship, PhD internship
Duration: 6 month to 1 year
Required educational background: Other, Materials Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Energy, Finance
Supervising scientist(s): For further information or for application, please contact Hanie Zarafshani (< E-Mail aus Sicherheitsgründen gelöscht >) and Job Soethoudt (< E-Mail aus Sicherheitsgründen gelöscht >)
The reference code for this position is 2026-INT-258. Mention this reference code in your application.
Imec allowance will be provided.
Applications should include the following information:
- resume
- motivation
- current study
Incomplete applications will not be considered.
