Advancing a Structured Approach to Semiconductor Water Management

ElectraMet is pleased to highlight the contribution of Cameron Lippert, Chief Innovation Officer, to the SEMI Water Management Procedural Guide, a newly released industry resource developed by the SEMI Water Management Working Group.

The guide, published in March 2026, provides a structured methodology for understanding, characterizing, and ultimately solving water and wastewater challenges in semiconductor manufacturing.

Lippert joins a cross-industry group of contributors representing equipment manufacturers, solution providers, and semiconductor operators, reinforcing a broader industry effort to standardize how water systems are evaluated and improved.

Within the document, the emphasis is clear: water management is no longer a peripheral utility function. It is an integrated engineering discipline requiring data, system-level visibility, and deliberate design choices.

From Fragmented Data to Engineered Water Systems

A central theme of the Procedural Guide is the need to move beyond reactive wastewater treatment and toward engineered water system design.

The guide outlines a stepwise framework beginning with the development of a comprehensive water balance, mapping all sources, uses, losses, and discharges across a facility.

This approach reframes water management as a system of interconnected flows rather than isolated treatment points. By quantifying inputs and outputs, facilities can identify inefficiencies, uncover reclaim opportunities, and select treatment technologies that align with both operational and environmental goals.

Importantly, the document emphasizes that data quality drives design quality. Without accurate characterization of flow and contaminant variability, treatment systems risk being either oversized or insufficient for compliance and reuse targets.

Lippert’s contribution sits within this broader push toward data-driven infrastructure, where treatment decisions are informed by real operating conditions rather than static assumptions.

Linking Characterization to Technology Selection

Beyond measurement, the Procedural Guide connects water characterization directly to technology pathways.

It categorizes treatment approaches across three major contaminant groups: organic, inorganic, and particulate. From there, it maps a wide range of technologies including electrochemical processes, membrane systems, oxidation methods, and biological treatments.

This framework reflects a key industry realization: no single technology solves semiconductor wastewater challenges in isolation. Instead, solutions are inherently hybrid, requiring combinations tailored to specific chemistries, flow profiles, and reuse objectives.

The inclusion of electrochemical methods such as electrowinning within this framework signals a growing recognition of technologies that enable both compliance and resource recovery.

SEMI Baseline Findings: Water Management as a System-Level Challenge

While the Procedural Guide focuses on “how to act,” the companion document, the SEMI Water Management Baseline and Water Savings Guide with Maturity Scale, defines what challenges the industry must solve.

The Baseline Guide establishes a common framework for understanding semiconductor water management across facilities, identifying nearly 100 technical challenges and opportunities compiled from industry-wide input.

Among its most important conclusions is that water management challenges are not isolated to treatment systems. They span:

• Facility design and site constraints
• Data visibility and monitoring infrastructure
• Stream segregation and chemical complexity
• Reuse and recycle limitations tied to process requirements

   

This positions water as a cross-functional engineering problem, intersecting facilities, process engineering, EHS, and operations.

Segregation, Reuse, and the Value of Waste Streams

A recurring theme in the Baseline Guide is the importance of segregating wastewater streams based on composition.

Rather than blending all flows into a single treatment pathway, the guide highlights that separating high-strength or chemically distinct streams enables more efficient treatment and opens pathways for reuse or recovery.

Examples include:

• Concentrated copper waste streams, where recovery technologies can extract value
• Sulfuric-peroxide mixtures, where oxidant removal enables downstream reuse
• High TDS or nitrogen-containing streams, where targeted treatment reduces system burden

   

This reinforces a broader shift in industry thinking. Wastewater is no longer viewed solely as a liability. Under the right conditions, it becomes a recoverable resource stream.

The Maturity Scale: A Roadmap for Water Reuse Evolution

One of the most significant contributions of the Baseline Guide is the introduction of a water reuse maturity scale.

This framework outlines a progression from foundational water management practices to advanced reclaim strategies, including:

• Point-of-use recycling at individual tools
• End-of-pipe treatment systems
• Integrated reuse loops feeding back into facility operations
• Advanced approaches such as zero liquid discharge (ZLD)

   

The maturity scale also acknowledges that pathways are not uniform. Facilities may pursue different strategies depending on space constraints, regulatory requirements, and economic considerations.

Notably, the guide highlights that early-stage solutions often provide strong return on investment and are widely adopted, while more advanced solutions introduce tradeoffs such as energy use, system complexity, or secondary waste generation.

Data, Variability, and the Limits of Static Design

Another key insight from the Baseline Guide is the challenge of variability in semiconductor wastewater.

Water quality is not constant. It fluctuates based on production cycles, cleaning steps, and process changes. This variability complicates treatment design and underscores the need for continuous monitoring and adaptive systems.

The guide stresses that both average conditions and peak events must be understood. Average values drive baseline system design, while peak conditions determine safety margins and system resilience.

This aligns closely with the Procedural Guide’s emphasis on composite sampling, real-time data collection, and correlation between flow and concentration.

Industry Alignment Around Water as Infrastructure

Taken together, the two SEMI publications mark a clear shift in how the semiconductor industry approaches water.

Water systems are no longer treated as downstream utilities. They are increasingly recognized as core infrastructure, influencing cost, compliance, sustainability, and operational reliability.

Cameron Lippert’s contribution to the Procedural Guide reflects this shift. By participating in the development of standardized methodologies for water characterization and treatment selection, ElectraMet is part of a broader effort to bring consistency and engineering rigor to an area that has historically been fragmented.

Looking Ahead

The SEMI Water Management Working Group positions both documents as living frameworks that will evolve alongside industry needs.

As semiconductor manufacturing continues to scale and diversify, water challenges will grow in complexity. At the same time, the opportunity to recover value from wastewater streams and reduce overall resource consumption will become increasingly important.

The combination of structured procedural guidance and a shared baseline of challenges provides the industry with something it has historically lacked: a common language for water management.

And from that foundation, more advanced, efficient, and sustainable solutions can begin to take shape.