Also called: Fab Equipment Technician, Maintenance Technician (Fab)
Maintains and repairs the vacuum chambers, robots, lasers and plumbing inside chip-making tools.
In your bunny suit, you open up a plasma etch chamber, swap worn parts, clean it to a spotless shine and pump it back down to near-perfect vacuum. Then you run test wafers to prove it's ready. Many fabs train you from scratch after a two-year degree or military service.
Estimate; shift differentials add more.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Associate's degree (2-year), about 2 years after high school. Associate degree in electronics, mechatronics or semiconductor technology, or military electronics training.
Ways in: 2-year college, Military, Certification, On-the-job training. Training cost: Under $15k.
Majors to look at: Semiconductor Technology (2-year), Electronics Technology, Mechatronics Technology.
Growing much faster than average. No separate BLS projection; the CHIPS Act is funding many new US fabs.
Low risk for 10 years. New US fabs need thousands of techs; AI helps diagnose, but repairing vacuum, robotic and laser systems is hands-on.
Classes: Electronics CTE class, Physics, Chemistry, Algebra II.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-3023.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.