ASU partners with Intel to upskill fab workforce

ASU training course provides Intel employees with new skills for the company to expand its foundry business

As a longtime leader in the technology industry, Intel’s impact spans decades. The company, which was one of the first semiconductor manufacturers in Arizona, developed the first programmable microprocessor to establish semiconductor technology as the foundation for computer memory — the backbone of nearly every computing device today.

Now, building on a longstanding collaborative relationship with Arizona State University, Intel and the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering have co-developed a course to equip Intel engineers with the latest knowledge in semiconductor device physics and engineering, supporting the company’s expanding microelectronics manufacturing footprint. The content was developed in close collaboration with Timothy Day, an ASU alumnus and leader of Intel’s device engineering team at the Ocotillo fabrication facility in Chandler, Arizona.

“Intel is a longtime partner with ASU and the Fulton Schools on numerous initiatives,” says Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools and ASU’s senior vice provost of engineering, computing and technology. “We’re proud to answer the call to ensure their workforce is equipped with the latest skills and knowledge to remain leaders in the rapidly changing microelectronics industry.”

Katia Odio, a learning consultant at Intel, concurred that Intel and ASU’s long collaborative history made the university a natural fit for meeting the company’s workforce development needs.

“Intel has innovated and invested in Arizona for 45 years, and many of our employees and leaders are ASU alumni,” Odio says. “Since the conversation started about a year ago, ASU has been very proactive and interested, so the plans progressed and culminated with the design and launch of the program.”

Over the summer, the program graduated its first cohort of more than 60 participants from locations in the U.S., Israel and Ireland.

A group of students who participated in the Intel training program poses for a photo with ASU staff members. Photo courtesy of Intel

Building a foundation for the future

Intel worked with Global Outreach and Extended Education, part of the Fulton Schools, to co-develop a course that met the company’s current and future business needs. Representatives from both Intel and ASU used the Fulton Schools stackable microcredentials learning framework platform to determine the content to include in four new 10-hour courses that combined to accomplish Intel’s training goals.

The courses were built to provide a diverse group of Intel’s current engineers with shared preparation in semiconductor device physics and device engineering as they take on the latest challenges in semiconductor manufacturing. Tenured and tenure-track ASU electrical engineering faculty members, including David and Darleen Ferry Professor of Electrical Engineering Stephen Goodnick and Professors Brian Skromme and Dragica Vasileska, all faculty members in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, developed and delivered the instructional content and provided office hours to participants to deepen their understanding of the topics presented.

Through the new courses, Intel’s goal was to develop an even stronger global microelectronics manufacturing workforce. The program represents an exemplar for tailoring courses within the structure of microcredentials to a specific industry collaborator’s needs.

Participants in the training program learned skills in semiconductor materials and behaviors as well as metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor, or MOSFET, design, fabrication, applications and future industry trends. To best meet the learning outcomes and needs of participants, the program took place for five months, between the end of January and the end of June, with a July graduation ceremony in Arizona.

Janette Rice, a senior device engineer at the Intel Ocotillo campus in Chandler, Arizona, says she will be able to apply her learnings from the course to her job as Intel’s microelectronics technology becomes increasingly complex over time.

“My confidence in my fundamental device physics knowledge has increased a lot from completing this course,” Rice says. “The course also gave me the opportunity to interact with my colleagues on site here in Arizona and across the global Intel network. Discussing the knowledge gained and challenging ourselves to dig deeper into each topic gave us a lively, interactive learning experience.”

Jim Evers, an Intel vice president and site manager for the company’s fabrication facility in Ohio, served as a senior leader overseeing the program on the Intel side. Evers, a Fulton Schools electrical engineering alumnus, says he participated due to an interest in the course topics and curiosity about the customized training experience.

“We are a stronger organization for the skills gained by the participants,” he says. “This fast-paced course of condensed learning was a quick way for the participants to get the fundamental device knowledge necessary for them to do their jobs. ASU did a great job with the program.”

Setting the stage for future workforce development efforts

Brittany Holmes, associate director of professional programs and workforce development in Global Outreach and Extended Education, says ASU has received positive feedback from Intel employees, who reported advanced understanding of the topics covered by the end of the course. Holmes says she sees potential to expand this partnership and for more organizations to leverage ASU’s expertise for professional learning through this course and other topics in the future.

Hongbin Yu, a Fulton Schools professor of electrical engineering and the lead designer for the Intel course, also sees the course as a launching point for workforce upskilling programs for a rapidly evolving microelectronics industry.

“As more companies set up front-end fabs in the U.S., such as TSMC, Samsung, Micron Technology and many others, especially in the defense industry, there will be a need to increase the training of device engineers,” Yu says.