Our presentation on Future of Work issues this month is like
the script of a 1950's cowboy movie. (Those
movies were only interesting when they cut to the chase.) Thus far this FLATE
Focus series has touched on the Future of Work related to the NSF-ATE program's
focus on advanced manufacturing
technologies, agricultural and
bio-technologies, energy, environmental technologies and Information
technology. This month our " Work
to do for Future Technician Preparation theme" shifts to micro- and
nano- technologies. As in previous
issues, the question is how new technologies influence the technical workforce and
what do future technicians have to do to secure knowledge of and comfort level
with related specific subsets of existing STEM connected skills. We will address, security technologies, and geospatial
technologies as the year progresses.
Our motivation for
this series has a twofold intent. One is
for you the other is for us. First new
technology in the workplace does generate different expectations for the
technician workforce. Second, we want to
engage as many people interested in the development of the nation's technician
workforce into the conversation as to how NSF can facilitate lowering the
impact of that skills gap.
Technician duties within
micro- and nano- technologies can easily slide into one of three broad activity categories;
manipulation, metrology, and maintenance. In all three of these classifications, new
technology will impact what the technician needs to know. However, these new technologies impact the
technician differently in each category.
“Manipulation” is the
broad term that best describes what technicians and advanced operators will be
doing inside the clean room as the wafer is manipulated into finished devices. Human operations inside the cleanroom are and
will continue to dramatically (but just not easily noticeable) change. If you have ever looked through a cleanroom
window, what you saw was people walking along sometimes long aisle between rows
of equipment working at operator interface stations. If you look through one of those windows
today, people are still walking around in “bunny suits” working at operator
stations, however, you will not see anyone moving wafers between process step
anymore. The wafer size (weight) and its
value (very large number of very small devices on the wafer) now require no
human contact with the product. Many other
industries are newly exposed to robotics but production scale manufacture of
micro and nano-devices anywhere in the world is now completely automated.
Does that mean that
tomorrow’s technicians and advanced operators inside cleanrooms don’t have anything
new to learn or need to know what previous technicians knew? That is absolutely not true, however, they still
will not have to know much about robotics.
A new skill set they will need is part of the theme of the next episode of this FLATE Focus series.
“Metrology” is another classic technician workspace with an
equally steady state portfolio of skills and knowledge requirements. Even so, there are new expectations of those
technicians because of the insertion of new technology into that
environment. As analytical chemistry related
instrumentation becomes more sophisticated, different wafer inspection and
device quality control tools are being integrated into the same workstation
interface. This requires the technician
to have a broader perspective of what the limitations of each tool has relative
to quality control decisions as the wafers move from initial substrate purity to
final device operation characterization.
In addition, advanced computer augmentation of some spectroscopy methods
makes those tools now applicable outside the research and development (R&D)
mode and useful as part of device production processes. Raman and atomic force spectroscopies are just
two examples. The most interesting
impact of this change on technician education is the need to incorporate focused
STEM components from chemistry and physics into their curriculum. However, as with
technicians within the “manipulation” career path, what else they will need to
know is part of the theme of the next episode of this FLATE Focus series.
Finally, technicians that are involved in the “maintenance”
category. It is this technician workspace
that brings us back to those great cowboy movies. Maintenance technicians in
micro- and nano- technology production facilities work in the long hallways, the
Chase, outside the cleanroom. Just as sure
as the “boy meets girl”, “boy falls in love with girl”, “bad guy kidnaps girl” scenes
of those movies triggered the “cut to the chase” where our hero rides his
trusty steed to save the damsel in distress, similarly a process disturbance
generated in the “manipulation” and/or “metrology” technician workspaces
triggers the maintenance technicians to perform “chase” activities in that maintenance
workspace.
Now that almost total
automation dominates the cleanroom, the area connected to but not in the
cleanroom (the Chase) is where all maintenance operations begin and most often conclude. This reality will drive time duration
constrained micro and nano technician education programs to attenuate the device
technology portion of their curriculum to allow an increased focus on
cross-technology mechatronics skills training.
The manufacture of small-scale devices requires specific low-pressure
environments and precise delivery of reaction and masking chemicals and films. Faults
in the production line often stem from improper pressure and chemical
environments. The proper combination of those
additive and subtractive manufacturing process requirements is controlled
(adjusted) and/or returned to expected steady state values via equipment resident
in the Chase. Thus, decisions technicians
make in the Chase are critical to production and the industry’s zero downtime
(ZDT) manufacturing practices.
"The work to do
starts with you." is and will continue to be our “cut to the chase” exit
approach for each of these Focus Future of Work explorations. Micro- and nanodevice production will require
less personnel in the “manipulation” processes with additional people working in
and around the Chase to remove equipment downtime. The “metrology” crews will have
to adjust to smarter analytical tools and appreciate the impact of the
overlapping information they provide. However,
to adjust technician education to these general realities requires more
specific guidance from this industry.
So, as you might have expected, the last message now is that we need the
people that are in this industry (floor engineers, supervisors, and technicians
across the plant) to tell us what is needed.
What should technician preparation programs spend the time and money on?
NSF-ATE is listening and can put its resources into action
in response to what it hears so now is the time to speak up. Think about the skills needed. Contact us. Send us your thoughts.
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