How to become Semiconductor Processing Technician in 2024

Semiconductor Processing Technician Perform any or all of the following functions in the manufacture of electronic semiconductors: load semiconductor material into furnace; saw formed ingots into segments; load individual segment into crystal growing chamber and monitor controls; locate crystal axis in ingot using x-ray equipment and saw ingots into wafers; and clean, polish, and load wafers into series of special purpose furnaces, chemical baths, and equipment used to form circuitry and change conductive properties.

Semiconductor Processing Technician is Also Know as

In different settings, Semiconductor Processing Technician is titled as

  • Device Processing Engineer
  • Diffusion Operator
  • Engineering Technician
  • Manufacture Specialist
  • Manufacturing Technician
  • Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition Engineer (MOCVD Engineer)
  • Probe Operator
  • Process Technician
  • Wafer Fabrication Operator

Education and Training of Semiconductor Processing Technician

Semiconductor Processing Technician is categorized in Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Semiconductor Processing Technician

Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.

Education Required for Semiconductor Processing Technician

These occupations usually require a high school diploma.

Degrees Related to Semiconductor Processing Technician

Training Required for Semiconductor Processing Technician

Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Semiconductor Processing Technician in different industries are

What Do Semiconductor Processing Technician do?

  • Manipulate valves, switches, and buttons, or key commands into control panels to start semiconductor processing cycles.
  • Maintain processing, production, and inspection information and reports.
  • Inspect materials, components, or products for surface defects and measure circuitry, using electronic test equipment, precision measuring instruments, microscope, and standard procedures.
  • Clean semiconductor wafers using cleaning equipment, such as chemical baths, automatic wafer cleaners, or blow-off wands.
  • Study work orders, instructions, formulas, and processing charts to determine specifications and sequence of operations.
  • Load and unload equipment chambers and transport finished product to storage or to area for further processing.
  • Clean and maintain equipment, including replacing etching and rinsing solutions and cleaning bath containers and work area.
  • Place semiconductor wafers in processing containers or equipment holders, using vacuum wand or tweezers.
  • Set, adjust, and readjust computerized or mechanical equipment controls to regulate power level, temperature, vacuum, and rotation speed of furnace, according to crystal growing specifications.
  • Etch, lap, polish, or grind wafers or ingots to form circuitry and change conductive properties, using etching, lapping, polishing, or grinding equipment.
  • Load semiconductor material into furnace.
  • Monitor operation and adjust controls of processing machines and equipment to produce compositions with specific electronic properties, using computer terminals.
  • Count, sort, and weigh processed items.
  • Calculate etching time based on thickness of material to be removed from wafers or crystals.
  • Inspect equipment for leaks, diagnose malfunctions, and request repairs.
  • Align photo mask pattern on photoresist layer, expose pattern to ultraviolet light, and develop pattern, using specialized equipment.
  • Stamp, etch, or scribe identifying information on finished component according to specifications.
  • Operate saw to cut remelt into sections of specified size or to cut ingots into wafers.
  • Scribe or separate wafers into dice.
  • Connect reactor to computer, using hand tools and power tools.
  • Mount crystal ingots or wafers on blocks or plastic laminate, using special mounting devices, to facilitate their positioning in the holding fixtures of sawing, drilling, grinding or sanding equipment.
  • Attach ampoule to diffusion pump to remove air from ampoule, and seal ampoule, using blowtorch.
  • Measure and weigh amounts of crystal growing materials, mix and grind materials, load materials into container, and monitor processing procedures to help identify crystal growing problems.
  • Locate crystal axis of ingot, and draw orientation lines on ingot, using x-ray equipment, drill, and sanding machine.

Qualities of Good Semiconductor Processing Technician

  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.

Tools Used by Semiconductor Processing Technician

  • Antistatic wrist straps
  • Atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition APCVD systems
  • Automatic notched wafer aligners
  • Automatic wafer cleaners
  • Chemical vapor deposition CVD systems
  • Clean room ovens
  • Clean room suits
  • Clean-room air particle analyzers
  • Desktop computers
  • Die bonders
  • Diffusion furnaces
  • Diffusion pumps
  • Digital hygrometers
  • Digital multimeters
  • Electron beam evaporators
  • Epitaxial deposition equipment
  • Gas blow torches
  • High precision tweezers
  • Ion implanters
  • Laboratory fume hoods
  • Laser wafer markers
  • Lithography exposure systems
  • Load ports
  • Low pressure chemical vapor deposition LPCVD machines
  • Manual wet benches
  • Mask aligners
  • Micro diamond scribers
  • Oxidation systems
  • Photolithography equipment
  • Photoresist strippers
  • Photostabilizers
  • Physical vapor deposition systems
  • Plasma ashers
  • Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition PECVD machines
  • Rapid thermal processors
  • Safety eyewear
  • Sanding machines
  • Scanning electron microscopes
  • Semiconductor etchers
  • Semiconductor polishers
  • Semiconductor processing chillers
  • Semiconductor test probes
  • Slurry filter cabinets
  • Solder reflow ovens
  • Solder-paste printers
  • Soldering guns
  • Spectrum analyzers
  • Spin rinse dryers
  • Sputterers
  • Surface profilers
  • Surface resistivity meters
  • Vacuum ovens
  • Vacuum pumps
  • Vacuum wands
  • Wafer arbor presses
  • Wafer mappers
  • Wafer probers
  • Wafer scanners
  • Wafer sorters
  • Water surface contamination analyzers
  • X-ray inspection equipment

Technology Skills required for Semiconductor Processing Technician

  • Camstar Systems Camstar Semiconductor Suite
  • Database software
  • Eyelit Manufacturing
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Word
  • National Instruments TestStand
  • yieldWerx