UB centers combine efforts to offer experiential learning on semiconductor manufacturing

By Peter Murphy

The course, Cleanroom Fundamentals, runs today, August 13, with an additional classroom session on Thursday, August 15 and two sessions in the cleanroom on Friday, August 16, and the centers plan to offer additional sections during the winter intersession and in summer 2025.

“Our course prepares students interested in a STEM career to choose a pathway in semiconductor manufacturing and gain a chance to work at some of the most technologically advanced companies in the world—many of whom are located along the New York thruway,” says Timothy Leyh, executive director of TCIE.

The UB Cleanroom is one of the most advanced cleanrooms in Western New York. The lab allows for electronic device research, processing and development. Students enrolled in the course will learn about the fundamentals of manufacturing, how the cleanroom equipment works, and they will use equipment to fabricate a patterned wafer using photolithography and etch technologies.

The course is open to any college student—not just students from UB—who have a high school diploma or equivalency and who are currently enrolled in a degree program. The course prepares students for careers in the semiconductor industry, but the skills students learn are applicable in a number of different areas, according to Jeff Salzmann, cleanroom manager and course instructor.

“The subject, at first glance, appears to be focused on a narrow technical field, but it’s not,” says Salzmann, who is also an assistant professor of research in UB’s Shared Instrumentation Laboratories. “Technologies pioneered in semiconductors have seen use in many unrelated fields. I have developed processes for biomedical, aerospace and automotive research using these technologies.”

Salzmann says the three key fundamentals in this course—cleanroom/controlled environments, vacuum science and thin film deposition—are commonly used in many different industries.

This is the first educational collaboration between TCIE and the semiconductor center since it was established in 2023. TCIE connects public and private businesses to the resources available in UB’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. In recent years, TCIE has worked to develop collaborative microelectronics partnerships across campus, and support new academic programs with microchip manufacturers and related industries. TCIE will continue to work to boost the nation’s microelectronics industry workforce. This course also furthers goals associated with the Center for Advanced Semiconductor Technologies, according to Jonathan Bird, director of the center and professor and chair in the Department of Electrical Engineering.

“Our mission is to undertake cutting edge research and education in support of the semiconductor industry, furthering the economic goals of our state and of the nation,” Bird says. “This exciting new course provides students from a variety of educational backgrounds with hands-on insight into the workings of this critical industry. Students often come to us with little knowledge of the important role played by semiconductors in modern society. The experiential offerings that we provide help them understand this role.”

The University at Buffalo has long been a leader in semiconductor and microelectronics research and education. Both centers continue to play a part in UB’s place in the $40 million Buffalo-Rochester-Syracuse NY SMART I-Corridor Tech Hub established by the federal government with funding from the 2022 CHIPS & Science Act.