Last Friday, I went on a tour of Tec-Smart , a new education and training facility in
upstate New York (Malta, NY), which is just finishing
construction. Tec-Smart stands for the Training and Education Center
for Semiconductor Manufacturing and Alternative and Renewable Technologies.
TEC-SMART is a joint project of HVCC, Hudson Valley
Community College, and
the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). The
facility contains impressive cleanrooms, which will be used to prepare students
to become workers in the Semiconductor Fabrication (Chip Fab) industry. The
facility is located close to the first chip plant being built in the U.S. in the
last 25 years. GlobalFoundries
is the company building the chip fab or semiconductor foundry plant. The
jobs that the chip foundry will provide is good news for the Upstate New York
region.
Once completed, the Tec-Smart facility will be an impressive place for
technology education and training. HVCC developed the first community college
two year degree program in Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology several years
ago with assistance from several Universities and partners such as UAlbany's CNSE , RPI , RIT , MATEC , SEMATECH , and IBM . Students in the
program will also have access to educational materials and advanced
semiconductor fabrication tools, which are normally dedicated to research, at
the partner Universities such as CNSE.
Engineering technology students enrolled in the Electrical
Technology: Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology AAS program will take
courses such as Semiconductor Metrology and Process Control, Vacuum and Thin
Film Technology and Semiconductor Manufacturing and Nanofabrication Processes.
During my visit, a supplier was installing equipment designed specifically for
educating students in thin film deposition, lithography, wafer oxidation and
semiconductor metrology.
Energy or home energy efficiency courses will also be offered through the Center
for Energy Efficiency and Building Science (CEEBS) at the TEC-SMART
location. These courses provide a student with the baseline training needed for
several Building Performance Institute (BPI) certifications.
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Re: Tour of Tec-Smart
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