November 17, 1995

Engineering Research Center Sees No Glut of Ph.D.s

Science and engineering Ph.D.s--according to recent studies, they are a dime a dozen, and many are unable to find work in their chosen fields. Though science is traditionally a field in which graduates sometimes have difficulty landing a job, graduates in areas relating to microelectronics face the enviable dilemma of deciding which offer to accept.

Students in the Center for Advanced Electronic Materials Processing (AEMP) at North Carolina State University often face that desirable dilemma and are in hot demand. Earlier this year, a review team from the National Science Foundation (NSF) concluded that the center exemplifies excellence in research and education and that it serves as an important national resource for both.

The NSF established AEMP at N.C. State in 1988 as one of many Engineering Research Centers nationwide. The research focus is to develop in situ, low thermal budget, single-wafer processing. Wafers contain numerous microchips, which are used in computers, cellular phones and many other electronic products.

Approximately 25 faculty members, 90 graduate students, 50 undergraduates and 15 postdoctoral researchers work with the center, which has its main office on N.C. State's Centennial Campus. Researchers at North Carolina A&T State University, UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Charlotte and Duke University, as well as MCNC are also involved with the center The NSF requires a cross-disciplinary approach in all the research centers, but AEMP provides students a unique experience by implementing cooperative learning strategies.

The traditional method of training doctoral students is for each student to work closely with one professor, who supervises the student as he or she conducts original research and writes a dissertation, the whole process requiring little or no interaction with other faculty and students. The students in AEMP, however, work in cross-disciplinary teams--for example, electrical engineers work with materials scientists and physicists--to solve problems, just as they will when they work in industry.

"It's a very positive program for students. It offers us opportunities to work with people in other disciplines, to do a lot of things people in industry do," said Donald Miles, a doctoral student in electrical engineering. "We have students who build million-dollar tools, maintain them and then run them. We get to go into the lab and run all the processing steps ourselves." Miles pointed out that students at most other universities do not have access to expensive, sensitive equipment but rather must typically learn using computer simulations. Once they enter industry, these students will require additional training to become familiar with the actual equipment they will use.

To fulfill further NSF requirements, AEMP students must work on an experimental test bed, a project that requires input from the various areas of knowledge. The AEMP test bed is development and processing applications of cluster tools, methods that allow multistep wafer processing in a protected environment to minimize defects and control precisely each step in the formation of complex electronic circuits on the many microchips contained on each wafer.

According to Dr. Nino Masnari, director of AEMP, fewer companies do extensive research these days, relying instead on universities to provide both the knowledge gleaned from research and the human resources to apply it.

"The timing of the research is in tune with what I'm doing. I've been able to take the research being done here and apply it to my job," said Kevin Weldon, Process Engineering Group Leader for Intel in Hillsboro, Oregon. "There's been a useful exchange of information." Weldon said the students at AEMP are a good match for Intel because the company focuses more on practical application than theory.

"The students that we've hired from the center have done very well--they have a good mix of the theoretical and the practical," Weldon said.

In the past three years, semiconductor manufacturers in the United States have seen increasing profits, booming sales and continuing expansion. According to Masnari, companies currently spend between one and two billion dollars to build modern fabrication facilities, and some sources predict that as many as 200 new facilities will be built by the year 2000. "I've never seen a better environment with better opportunities for students than exists right now, and I've been in academia for 31 years," Masnari said. "Some companies are looking to us to provide the talent that they need as the explosion in this industry takes place. They have been coming here to interview in increasing numbers and with increasing frequency."

For example, in the past six months Texas Instruments has hired six AEMP doctoral students, and Masnari estimates that the center has placed 130 graduates since its inception. He says some company representatives come to the campus, interview the students and offer them jobs "on the spot," without subsequent plant visits.

The market is so good that many students opt not to pursue doctoral degrees but instead accept lucrative job offers after receiving a master's degree.

"There's such a frenzy out there right now that not only are these students getting fantastic offers--depending on what part of the country you go to, Ph.D.'s are getting $60,000-$70,000--they're also getting bonuses for signing, like pro athletes," Masnari said. Masnari's pride in the center's educational achievement is clear. "What we're doing here is using state-of-the-art facilities to give our students a state-of-the-art education to make them more valuable to industry and to give them a head start in their careers."

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