Solutions for semiconductor workforce crisis found through partnership

If the clock were wound back to 1990, the United States would have a dominant position in the semiconductor industry. In those days, it had a 36 percent share of global semiconductor fabrication capacity. That number dropped heavily to 10 percent by 2020 as manufacturing shifted to East Asia. Aware that the nation needed to regain its lead position this industry, which is crucial for both national security and economic development, the American government passed the CHIPS and Science Act  into law in 2022. 

The CHIPS Act appropriated $39 billion to what became known as the CHIPS for America Fund, with the goal of incentivizing and boosting semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S. Such massive investment created a challenge to fill job openings with qualified domestic talent. The Semiconductor Industry Association estimates over half of 115,000 projected new openings expected by 2030 will risk going unfilled. Of those 67,000, 39 percent are technician positions, which typically require a worker to have a two-year degree or certificate.

The association says the semiconductor ecosystem is only going to get larger through technological advancements, fueling the demand for semiconductor products to power artificial intelligence, 5G communication and Industry 4.0. Should jobs go unfilled, key goals of the CHIPS Act will be in jeopardy.

Meaningful action is happening inside The Grainger College of Engineering to address the concerns of the semiconductor industry. An initiative led by Materials Science and Engineering Associate Professor Qing Cao earned a $2 million Future of Semiconductors (FuSe) grant from the National Science Foundation. This funding stemmed from CHIPS Act investments in NSF.

Cao used a fraction of the grant - about $200,000 - to build a program introducing a new wave of students to semiconductors. Parkland College in Champaign jumped at the chance to partner with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Cao on the project, which brings students together in the summer for the chance to earn a certificate and career placement assistance through Grainger Engineering. The main draw of the program is hands-on education Parkland students can only access by using state-of-the-art lab equipment available through the U of I.

“If you look at the capability of the major producer of technicians, which is community colleges, they typically don’t have the expertise in their faculty and also facilities to train their students and fill those positions. So that’s the motivation of this program,” Cao said. 

The pilot year of the program was completed in 2024. Eight Parkland students began their journey with one week of classroom education on the Parkland campus, which featured U of I faculty lecturers. Students learned about why semiconductor technology is important, the critical steps of the semiconductor manufacturing process, safe practices for working in cleanroom settings, and how they can prepare themselves for the semiconductor industry job market and their future career as a semiconductor manufacturing technician. 

After the lectures came the chance for students to get physically involved. The next two weeks of the program took students to an actual cleanroom, located within Grainger Engineering's Electrical and Computer Engineering department. They had the opportunity to prepare a silicon wafer, pattern it through lithography and etching, add impurities to change the wafer’s electrical properties, perform deposition to create electronic components, and characterize the performance of their final products, which are fully functional transistors and diodes. 

Cao was thrilled to report the semiconductors fabricated in the lab sessions worked properly when tested – a sign that confirmed students were focused and engaged throughout the program. Positive signs were further backed up by Assistant Director of General Education Assessment Hannah Choi, who provided course evaluations during the two weeks of hands-on education and shared her initial impressions with Materials Science and Engineering. 

“I could see the energy from the students,” Choi said. “They were just engaged. They had a lot of questions.” 

In post-course surveys of students, she learned they felt appreciation for a notable enthusiasm, passion and approachability their instructors showed. She found many of them didn’t know much at all about semiconductors when they began the program, with some only hearing about the technology through the stock market. But they walked away with gratitude for the combination of lecture education and hands-on work. 

There is more work to be done for Cao and his team to get a greater feel for how successful the pilot program was. The data from Choi’s surveys will be collected and analyzed to determine the most effective implementation of this program in future years.  

Cao has some ambitions of his own for what could be next in the program. While the initial year brought in eight students from Parkland, he would like to see that number grow into the 20s or 30s. He mentioned multiple possibilities for what further growth could look like, including: enlisting the services of a guest lecturer from an industry partner – Intel or TSMC – to tell future students about why semiconductor manufacturing is an exciting career field; providing social networking opportunities that could help students network with industry professionals; and expanding the curriculum to teach students what they need to know as a semiconductor manufacturing technician, such as how to fix equipment’s electrical and vacuum issues. 

Cao is hopeful the U of I can be a model for microelectronics partnerships between other community colleges and research-focused universities. The data collected and experience learned will be shared with the community for them to adopt the best practices. 

“We’re talking with other (schools), including City Colleges of Chicago, Harper Community College, Heartland Community College and Illinois Eastern Community Colleges, to see if we get additional people interested in the baseline we’ve built over here,” Cao said. “We need 67,000 students, right? Eight is better than zero, but it’s definitely not enough.”