Hi reader,

Despite the rapid growth in consumption of electronics products, progress is being made to reduce the environmental impact of this consumption both in production, use and end-of-life.

With the market for 2.5/3D packaging increasing at 58% per year^[1] and beating forecasts by a factor of 2^[2] since 2020 as well as Raspberry Pi compute modules growing at 21% year-on-year^[3] the accelerating trend towards electronics modularisation at chip, package and module level is clear. The drivers behind this are primarily cost and capability, however global sustainability and environmental targets are a growing consideration^[4].

The amount of e-waste produced globally continues to increase, but at a growth rate of only 4% per year^[5] and slower than global electronics demand, we can see that new technologies are already making a difference. This article discusses how currently under-exploited technological opportunities^[6] in electronics modularity can go further and contribute to the global sustainability and environmental goals without needing to restrict the demand for electronics.

Systems-on-Chip

Systems-on-Chip (SoCs) integrate multiple blocks – such as CPU cores, memory, I/O interfaces, and specialized accelerators – onto a single silicon die. Consolidating functions reduces interconnect length, lowers latency, and improves power consumption^[7].

Chips are enormously carbon intensive to design, manufacture and test, with estimates in the region of 100kg CO₂ per CPU^[8]. When taking into account the Scope 3 implications, which are estimated to account for 79% of total per-chip emissions^[9], the cost quickly becomes large. In simple terms, reducing the number of distinct chips by using SoCs and so radically improves global sustainability, even before power consumption in use is taken into account.

Systems-in-Package

Systems-in-Package (SiPs) combine multiple chips or chiplets into a single package using heterogeneous integration technologies. 2.5/3D packaging advances^[10] using technologies such as interposers and hybrid bonding allow the integration of dissimilar functionality such as logic, memory, analogue, and RF components. The progression of higher-dimensional packaging has been fast from the first commercial 2.5D chips in 2010^[11] to their forecasted presence in over 50% of all datacentre modules by 2027^[12].

Use of consistent hardware allows standardised firmware and software, which aside from reducing the product development lifecycle, provides an estimated 70% reduction in embodied carbon compared with monolithic chips^[13]. In addition, there are significant opportunities for reuse and adaptation of packages^[14], providing another significant opportunity for waste reduction at end of life. The growth in patent applications for processing and reuse of e-waste from 0.015% in 2010 to 0.079% in 2022 shows the recognised opportunity for this.

Systems-on-Module

SoMs are pre-integrated modules that can combine processing, memory, power management, and interfaces on a single board-level module. More typically considered to be modules used in embedded applications such as those made by Raspberry Pi, the use of any integrable elements into final designs can cut lengthy design cycles. This extends to using development boards in end products, which although rare, is evidence that modularity of design has significant benefits^[15].

Taking the example further, Project Ara mobile phones was an early attempt to commercialise modularity at a consumer level led by Motorola and then Google in the early 2010s^[16]. Although that product never made it to market, the idea continues in the Fairphone. The Fairphone has sold over 100,000 units over the last 3 years and also, through extended service life has demonstrated up to 42% reduction^[17] in global warming potential compared to main-market smartphones.

All modular approaches above component level encourage easier diagnosis and repair in use as well as easier recovery and recycling at end of life. This contributes to waste reduction and reducing demand for new material^[18].

Ensuring Yield

The related problem associated with ever higher density electronics, which is the cornerstone^[19] of all of the technological changes mentioned above is more complex manufacture and more challenging testing to ensure manufacturing yield. To ensure yield and reduce waste to achieve targets, the need to move away from relying on optical, X-ray and traditional in-circuit testing for products has been clear^[20].

Testing methods such as JTAG-enabled functional test and boundary scan^[21] enable the test access to ensure yield at chip, package and module level and will help engineering teams achieve their sustainability goals.

Prognosis

Heterogeneous integration of dissimilar devices at chip, package and module level is propelling the global growth in semiconductor demand^[22]. The growth trajectory is established, as are the requirements for achieving a sustainable future for the planet even though the 1.5C limit target by 2030 is on course to be missed by a considerable margin^[23].

Industry is looking to government for legislation^[24] to mandate the change. As first steps the requirements for modularity are being enshrined in the ‘Right To Repair’. The UK was the first country to mandate that spare parts were made available for electrical products and appliances on 1^st July 2021^[25]. France followed soon after on 1^st January 2022^[26] and extended the spare parts obligation to include some categories of consumer electronics.

This innovative legislation is only the first step in the chain from appliances all the way back to chips in making use of modularity to deliver sustainable electronics, but progress is being made.

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^[1] High End Performance Packaging: 2025, Yole Group

^[2] High End Performance Packaging: 3D/2.5D Integration 2020, Yole Group

^[3] H1 results 2025, Raspberry Pi Holdings plc

^[4] Sustainability and Design Trends In The Consumer Electronics Industry, Autodesk

^[5] A Global Perspective On E-waste Recycling, Kang Liu et al., R&D Program of China

^[6] Using Modularity, Repairability to Fight e-Waste, Robert Grace, DesignNews

^[7] Heterogeneous Integration Roadmap, Sixth Annual Symposium, IEEE

^[8] Carbon Per Transistor (CPT): The Golden Formula For Green Computing Metrics: Zag ElSayed et al., University of Cincinatti

^[9] Circularity of Semiconductor Chip Value Chains: Advancing AI Sustainability Amid Geopolitical Tensions, Patrick Schröder, Journal of Circular Economy

^[10] Chiplet Heterogeneous Integration Technology—Status and Challenges, Tao Li et al., Naval Research Academy Beijing

^[11] 2.5D ICs are more than a stepping stone to 3D ICs, Mike Santirini, Xilinx

^[12] Advanced chip packaging: How manufacturers can play to win, Ondrej Burkacky et al., McKinsey

^[13] ECO-CHIP: Estimation of Carbon Footprint of Chiplet-based Architectures for Sustainable VLSI, Chetan Choppali Sudarshan et al., IEEE

^[14] Towards Sustainable Electronics: Exploring IC Reuse for Circular Economy Transformation, Nowell Stoddard et al., National Institute of Standards and Technology, US Department of Commerce

^[15] Leveraging Commercially-available, Off-the-shelf FPGA Boards and “Standard” Connectors to Build Semiconductor and Sensor Evaluation Platforms, Opal Kelly

^[16] Google to keep Motorola’s Advanced Technology group, including Project Ara modular phone, Nilay Patel, The Verge

^[17] Life Cycle Assessment of the Fairphone 3, Marina Proske et al., Fraunhofer IZM

^[18] Design for recycle of devices to ensure efficient recovery of technology critical metals, Molly E. Keal et al., University of Leicester etc.

^[19] Heterogeneous IC Packaging: Building an Infrastructure, Mike Kelly, 3DInCities

^[20] Implementing Change On The Test Floor, John VanNewkirk, ElectronicDesign

^[21] What is JTAG and how can I make use of it?, XJTAG

^[22] Enabling The Future: Heterogeneous Integration From Connected Devices To Data Centres, SemiEngineering

^[23] Emissions Gap Report 2025, UN Environnent Programme

^[24] Sustainability and Design Trends In The Consumer Electronics Industry, Autodesk

^[25] Right To Repair Regulations, SI 2021 No.745, House of Commons Library]

^[26] Right To Repair Progress, iFixit