TUCSON, AZ—Have you ever wondered about the use of flex-tensional ejectors to deposit photoresist on a wafer, or about self-refreshing, "popping" chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) pads? What about the role of supercritical CO ) in a variety of IC processes? Or the possibility of reducing waste in the semiconductor industry? These topics and more were the subject of a two-day conference organized in this desert city to grapple with the environmental challenges faced by the semiconductor industry. MINIATURE SPIGOTS: Proposed micromachined ejector with multiple drivers to be inserted into silicon for dispensing liquids onto the wafer surface. An array will contain 10,000 actuators. SOURCE: B. (PIERRE) T. KHURI-YAKUB; ILLUSTRATION BY JAMES SCHLESINGER Held February 13 and 14, the sixth annual review meeting of the National Science Foundation/Semiconductor Research Corp. Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Environmentally Benign Semiconductor Manufacturing took stock of its accomplishments since its founding in 1996 and provided a vehicle for researchers from a range of universities and companies to discuss their findings as well as their long- and short-term objectives. ERC's impressive growth is a measure of academia's interest in lessening the harmful and wasteful impact of semiconductor manufacturing processes on the environment, and industry's interest in tapping academia's brains and technical know-how. While the center's founders included the University of Arizona (its flagship institute), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), California's Stanford