"Demand for products made using vacuum-enhanced processes is growing +10% per year. Applications including semiconductors, solid-state lighting, and space simulation continue to apply pressure on manufacturers, like the Lesker Company, who are capacity limited because of the deficit in our vacuum-skilled workforce. The availability of modern, interactive, teaching materials will help streamline the process to build a capable labor supply to meet growing demands and maintain our country’s competitive advantage in vacuum technology."
J.R. Gaines, Technical Director of Education
The Kurt J. Lesker Company
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
“The importance of vacuum science as general industrial skill set cannot be overstated. A program that trains future technicians, engineers, and scientists on this vital subject provides a solid career foundation with ample room for growth. Vacuum technology is widely deployed in many critical areas- such as medical, analytical metrology, reliability, food sciences, semiconductors, and optics, to name a few. As the technical needs in different professions grow, so will the application of vacuum science.”
Jeff Salzmann, Senior Research Engineer
Advanced Materials Technology Group
Clarence, NY, USA
The National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program has been funding innovation at two-year colleges for over twenty years. With a focus on the education of technicians for the high-technology fields that drive our nation's economy, and strong partnerships between academic institutions and industry, ATE promotes improvement in the education of science and engineering technicians at the undergraduate and secondary school levels.
To learn more about ATE, please visit the NSF ATE program home page.
This project is developing an electronic textbook (E-book) to support vacuum technology education. Vacuum technology is a critical, enabling technology for many industries, with semiconductor manufacturing being one of the largest. According to the 2019 report from the Semiconductor Industry Association, the global semiconductor industry is a key growth sector in the global economy, with the US semiconductor industry accounting for almost half the global market share in 2018. US-based industry semiconductor sales exceeded $200 billion in 2018 and the industry employs over 241,000 direct jobs. Currently, a cohort of community colleges prepares manufacturing technicians for the US semiconductor industry. Preparing technicians for this industry is a challenge for community colleges especially in complex technologies such as vacuum technology. One of the challenges is finding technician-level textbooks and equipping learning environments that facilitate the development of industry-needed skills. The E-book is expected to fill this need through its text and its associated animations, tutorials, video demonstrations, and interactive assessments.
This work was made possible with a grant from the National Science Foundation DUE #2000454. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
