Also called: Fab Process Engineer, Etch/Deposition Engineer
Develops and improves the hundreds of steps used to manufacture chips in a cleanroom fab.
Wearing a full 'bunny suit,' you adjust a machine that deposits layers just a few atoms thick, then analyze why yield dropped on last night's wafers. New fabs in Arizona, Texas, Ohio, and New York are hiring.
Estimate.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in chemical, materials, or electrical engineering; many have a master's or PhD.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Electrical Engineering, Physics.
Growing much faster than average. Strong growth from new US fabs.
Low risk for 10 years. New US fabs need many engineers; AI helps tune recipes, but solving cleanroom yield problems stays hands-on.
Classes: AP Chemistry, AP Physics, AP Calculus.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2199.
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