Reclaim

Germanium

Germanium’s abundance in the Earth’s crust is approximately 1.6 ppm. Only a few minerals like argyrodite, briartite, germanite, and renierite contain appreciable amounts of germanium, but none are in mineable deposits. Germanium seldom appears in high concentrations. It is mainly a byproduct of zinc ore processing.

The importance of recycled germanium recovered from end-of-life products, such as fiber optics, and solar cells, should not be underestimated. Recycling is expected to increase during the next two decades as aging products are taken out of service.

Worldwide, about 30% of the total germanium consumed is produced from recycled materials.

AIR asks you to consider recycling your germanium refuse items, broken optics, technology wastes, and liquids. We work with germanium as low as 2% content solutions and compounds to give a second life to germanium products.

You are welcome to contact us with any requests and concerns related to the recycling of germanium.

 Silicon

Silicon is the king of semiconductor materials. This element offers an unmatched combination of abundance and ease of manufacturing that has ed to the boom of technological process in the last 5 decades.

GaAs and InP

Reclaim process flow diagram

1. Sort wafer for different coating layers
2. Acid stripping
3. Photo resistant stripping
4. Au Etch
5. Wafer cleaning with a specialized mixture (Ammonia+H202+H2O)
6. Sort and regroup by the thickness
7. Rough polish of wafer front-side
8. Final polish of wafer front-side
9. Cleaning polish of wafer front-side
10. Final inspection and packaging