**1. Introduction**

Nanotechnology is a wide discipline, which includes science, engineering, and technology conducted at the nanoscale level of 1 to 100 nanometers according to the

#### **Figure 1.**

*Estimated materials in one iPhone require 46 different elements reported according to Stanford Advanced Materials (SAM) Corporation [2].*

Noble Prize scientist Richard Feynman. At such low scale, even gold has different properties in color, and electrical and chemical compositions, that the ones used to characterize the typical gold in large scale. Nanotechnology includes many sectors such as automotive, medical and healthcare, aerospace, photovoltaics, communication, railways and semiconductors, etc. [1], and each of them uses a wide range of materials and alloys. Our focus on this chapter addresses semiconductor's need for raw materials and how to identify more cost-efficient and environmentally friendly ways of extracting and storing them. The most used semiconductor materials are silicon, germanium, and gallium arsenide, but for each sector the list of more raw materials increases. To better understand the concept, we use as an example a smartphone, a typical electronic device each of us possess. Inside an iPhone are used more than 46 different elements according to Stanford Advanced Materials as reported in **Figure 1** adapted from [2]. The detailed list of materials divided by each electronic component is shown below [3]:


Most of these materials are not abundant in nature and are supplied by few countries. Considering the market of mobile phones, more materials are used daily and to keep up with the demand it is important to recycle. Apple announced that their product iPhone 12 is made of 100% recycled raw materials, and especially, rare earth materials are used for magnetic components [4]. Many other companies follow the same trend as they valorize green energy and carbon-free products.

Industry is collaborating more with research and academia to identify what is the cost of bringing the materials from lab to fab [5] and identifying new fields to help technology facilitate the extraction, storage, and utility of the materials [6].

### *Understanding the Need of Raw Materials, and Eco-Friendly and Cost-Effective Methods... DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108922*

Many countries are increasing the attention and research in the entire raw material chain from exploration, mining, and mineral processing to substitution, recycling, and circular economy [7, 8]. This opens new possibilities related to R&D and expertise in mobility, sustainability, and European and intercontinental policies for supplier and material manufacturing. The growth is driven by both increasing demand and applications in semiconductor industry and by the investment of big semiconductor companies in the field.

This chapter is divided into the following sections: market study for semiconductor raw materials, suppliers and main semiconductor's companies, geopolitical and social impact, characterization techniques used for the evaluation of material properties, traditional and novel technologies, and semiconductor and new applications for photocatalysis and the last part is dedicated to conclusions.
