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Main Menu Session 2147

Microelectronics Teaching Factory, a Venue for Learning and Building Real World Products By Engineering Technology Students

Lakshmi Munukutla, Albert McHenry, John Robertson, and Richard Newman

College of Technology and Applied Sciences Arizona State University East Mesa, Arizona, 85212

Abstract

Arizona State University East (ASUE) is leading a project in preparing Engineering Technology students majoring in Microelectronics with real world experiences via integrated learning in the Microelectronics Teaching Factory. The objective is to have better-educated and better-prepared technologists to meet the workforce needs of the region’s semiconductor industry. The strategy is to consolidate major integrated learning activities into a single world-class facility known as the Teaching Factory. The Microelectronics Teaching Factory (MTF) at ASUE is capable of producing fully functioning integrated microchips, and has established a partnership with a number of major semiconductor manufactures and regional Community Colleges.

Introduction

The state of Arizona, primarily Maricopa County, is a nationally recognized hub of semiconductor fabrication. Where the national average of employment concentration in the semiconductor industry is benchmarked at 1.0, in Arizona that concentration is 6.8. The jobs are here via industry leaders such as Intel Corporation, Motorola, Inc., Microchip Technologies, ST Microelectronics, Amkor Technology, Inc., ASML, and Medtronics, Inc., as well as many smaller manufacturers and suppliers. In 1999 jobs in Arizona’s semiconductor and related electronics and computer industries numbered nearly 55,000. Wages paid for these jobs by the region’s semiconductor and related companies were 92 percent higher than the state ’s average wage (1,2). As of 2000, semiconductor fabrication is the nation’s largest manufacturing activity, and the State of Arizona ranks 3 rd in the nation in semiconductor employment with 33,500 jobs (3).

Yet a survey of Arizona’s high-technology firms recently completed for the state’s Department of Commerce revealed that 73 percent of the region’s high-tech job openings either went unfilled or were filled by people relocating to Arizona. In responding to the survey, 60 percent of the company executives stated that a shortage of skilled workers was the most or one of the most significant problems facing their business. ASUE is positioned well to meet the workforce

Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright Ó 2002, American Society for Engineering Education

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Newman, R., & McHenry, A., & Robertson, J., & Munukutla, L. (2002, June), Microelectronics Teaching Factory, A Venue For Learning And Building Real World Products By Engineering Technology Students Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--10634