Eric Soong, who holds a doctorate in environmental-engineering science from a British university, says he never regrets accepting less pay for the position of project leader in Ben Ten Technology Corp.`s R&D department than he was offered by other high-tech companies.

"What I really appreciate about Ben Ten is its absolutely eco-friendly electrolyte process," Soong explains. "Having studied chemical science as an undergraduate, I know how hazardous most chemical substances are to the ecology when they are used to wash electronic components. That was why I chose to study environmental science for my graduate degree."

Ben Ten, an electrochemical startup that moved into the Hsinchu Science Park in May last year after several years of operation at an incubation center in National Taiwan University, uses a unique technology to reclaim defective electronic components including liquid crystal display (LCD) substrate glass and silicon wafers.

Ben Ten chairman Ben Liu, who holds an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Japan`s Waseda University and an EMBA from Taiwan`s National Cheng Kung University, says that the company uses third-generation toxic-free cleaning technology that he himself invented. The first generation, he comments, involves strongly toxic chemical substances while the second generation employs weakly toxic substances. "Both generations were developed by Japanese manufacturers," he notes. "And to protect Japan`s ecology, Japanese reclamation-service manufacturers have transplanted offshore."



To emphasize the harmlessness of the electrolyte he uses, Liu soaks his bare hand in the liquid for several seconds. "It is absolutely a neutral liquid," he stresses. He reports that the new technology is protected by a number of patents, including one for its excimer-light process and another for its electrolyte.

"The excimer-light process makes the surface of the glass much smoother than that of virgin substrate," claims Dr. Pa Paishan, an associate professor at the Graduate School of Toy and Design, National Taipei University of Education, and Ben Ten`s principal technology advisor.

Liu says that his technology, which completely removes unwanted substances from the surface of defective substrates, is aimed mainly at replacing the toxic chemical processes that are normally used to clean the color-filter layer on LCD substrate glass. It can, he claims, "deal with undesirable substances, even at the nano level."

The non-toxic electrolyte was originally developed to remove indium tin oxide (ITO) layers 140-150 nanometers thick from color-filter film. Liu says that his liquid can remove the ITO layer and leave the color-filter film intact, while "other chemical measures ruin color-filter film when they remove the ITO layer. The benefit of our technology has been verified by organizations like the Industrial Technology Research Institute and major domestic LCD makers."

Huge Savings

This can save huge amounts of money for LCD makers. Liu estimates that 10% of the three million 3.5-6th generation panels that Taiwan`s 11 LCD-panel makers turn out every month are defective. This, he says, represents a huge market. To keep up with the demand, Ben Ten plans to double its capacity to 32,000 panels a month sometime next year.

Currently, the company`s processing lines deal mostly with defective fourth- and fifth-generation LCDs which measure 730cm x 920cm. In the second half of this year, Liu plans to retool his factory with lines for fifth- and sixth-generation panels measuring 1,300cm x 1,100cm. "Our defect-free ratio has surpassed 90%," he reports. "For chemical methods, the ratio averages only 30-40%."

Liu plans to open another plant next year in the Southern Taiwan Science Park, which is the biggest base for Taiwan`s LCD industry.

The company recently began applying its cleaning methodology to defective solar silicon wafers and compact discs. "Some metal coatings on the components, like chromium, palladium, platinum, and rhodium, are hard to remove even by aqua regia. But with our approach, they can be scrapped easily." boasts Soong.

Liu`s inspiration for the development of ecology-friendly cleaning methods came many years ago, when he was working as a process specialist in Fujitsu`s optoelectronics business. "I saw Japanese LCD-reclamation manufacturers moving their toxic processes offshore-mostly to Taiwan, which is currently the world`s biggest LCD supplier by volume," he recalls. "I felt so upset that I decided to change the situation for the better."

Soong concedes, however, that metal scrapped using the company`s approach has a lower purity than metal scrapped using the chemical approach. "But that is OK," he explains, "because you can use refining approaches to filter out the impurities."

In addition to LCDs, silicon wafers, and compact discs, Liu claims, his reclamation technology also has application in a wide range of sciences including photonics, physics, chemicals, and electromechanics. Ben Ten has been able to use this range of application to enter the field of robotics; Liu reports that he is working with Waseda University on the development of a robot endowed with artificial intelligence that enables it to simulate a human musician, and says that he may even set up a robot-making business within his company.
(by Ken Liu)