Education, Training and Workforce Development

A productive semiconductor workforce needs to be well versed in diverse concepts originating from semiconductor materials, devices, circuits, architecture, EDA tools, packaging, power delivery, thermal management etc. For example, an engineer with computer engineering expertise developing the next generation of AI hardware needs to be well versed with packaging issues such as thermal management and reliability which are conventionally mechanical engineering domains. Historically semiconductor concepts are split across three undergraduate majors: Material Science MSE, Mechanical Engineering ME and ECE with little or no cross pollination during the undergraduate education. While semiconductor education has been offered by many colleges across the nation for decades, much of this learning experience is broken across artificial boundaries imposed by a student’s majors. For example, an undergraduate student in material science would be well trained in concepts related to semiconductor materials but would be minimally exposed to concepts in circuits, architecture and packaging. The same is true for students with mechanical engineering and ECE majors. While there may be some exceptions, overall the quality of undergraduate students entering the semiconductor workforce are devoid of a holistic learning experience needed to be a productive workforce. Moreover, lack of a holistic learning experience also impacts the undergraduate student’s motivation in pursuing a career in semiconductors.