From IMAPS DPC 2025: How Arizona's Universities and Schools Are Revolutionizing Semiconductor Education

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Arizona is transforming into the "Silicon Oasis" of America through an unprecedented collaboration that's reshaping semiconductor education from high school through graduate studies. At the heart of this revolution is a groundbreaking partnership between the University of Arizona and Chandler Unified School District, launching the nation's first high school career and technical education program focused on semiconductor manufacturing.

Starting July 2025, forty students will begin a two-year journey learning on industry-grade equipment—not "glorified children's toys" but actual mechatronic systems, universal robots, and PCB printing technology. What makes this program revolutionary is its design for multiple pathways; graduates can either enter the workforce immediately as technicians or continue to higher education with college credits already earned.

Meanwhile, Arizona State University is building the advanced end of this educational pipeline through CHIPS Act-funded initiatives like the Southwest Advanced Prototyping Hub and the SHIELD project. Graduate courses in semiconductor packaging have exploded in popularity, growing from just 27 students to over 175 in two years. The university is getting creative with outreach too, developing a "Packaging on Wheels" mobile facility to bring semiconductor education to schools nationwide.

The strength of Arizona's approach lies in its extensive industry involvement. Fifteen major companies form the steering committee for the high school program, providing real-world problems and case studies. Students from diverse backgrounds—electrical, mechanical, materials science, and chemical engineering—all find pathways into this multidisciplinary field.

As one industry expert notes, students with hands-on, industry-specific training demonstrate markedly better performance both during interviews and on the job. This educational ecosystem is creating not just the chips of tomorrow, but the workforce that will design, build, and innovate them. 

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• Scott Hayes, NXP

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Insights Podcast.
Hi everyone.

(00:43):
This episode was recorded liveat the 2025 IMAPS Device
Packaging Conference, where oneof the key topics was on the
importance of an industry,academia and government
collaboration in building asolid semiconductor ecosystem in
the United States, and we werefortunate to be joined by
delegations from both ASU andthe University of Arizona and

(01:03):
the Chandler Unified SchoolDistrict to learn more about the
academia's involvement inbuilding the ecosystem here in
Arizona.
My guests on the podcast areLisa Foulkes and Janet Harpoff
and Scott Hayes.
Welcome to the podcast, thankyou, thank you.
Great to be here, Janet.
You're with the ChandlerUnified School District.
That's correct, Liesl.
You're with the ChandlerUnified School District.

Janet Hartkopf (01:24):
That's correct.

Françoise von Trapp (01:25):
Liesl you're with the University of
Arizona and Scott you're hererepresenting IMAPS
Microelectronics Foundation.
Can you tell me a little bitabout yourselves and your roles?

Scott Hayes (01:36):
Scott Hayes, thank you for the introduction.
My role here at IMAPS is as theDirector of Foundations.
The Microelectronics Foundationis as the director of
foundations the MicroelectronicsFoundation and our mission
statement is to promote studentengagement in microelectronics
packaging.
So part of that is drivingstudent engagement.
Part of my responsibilitieslast year was general chair of

(01:57):
the device packaging conference.
Now I'm past general chair, butwhat I was doing a few months
back was helping Amy Lujan, ourcurrent general chair, set up
our technical program.
We needed some invited speakers, potential keynote speakers,
and I thought at that point toprobably reach out to some of
our major local universities.
We had some engagement lastyear with Arizona State and I

(02:22):
wanted to reach out to theUniversity of Arizona, my alma
mater, bear down.
I'm going to throw that plug inthere too.
But, that's where I made theinitial connection with Liesl.
He's very forthcoming with somenames invited speakers Robert
Norwood he's going to be asession chair for one of our
curated sessions, and Dr MattEichenfield will be giving an
invited lecture on photonicslater.

(02:43):
So then from there, thecommunication continued and
began a little more studentoutreach, and we were able to
drive the engagement a littlebit further.
I'll let them tell the rest ofthe story, though.

Françoise von Trapp (02:53):
Okay, liesl , can you explain a little bit
about the University ofArizona's initiative?

Liesl Folks (02:59):
Sure, I am a professor of electrical and
computer engineering at theUniversity of Arizona, but I
took the initiative in 2023 toestablish the Center for
Semiconductor Manufacturing atthe University of Arizona, which
was an effort to pull togethera really collaborative and
coordinated response from theuniversity to support the

(03:22):
expansion of semiconductormanufacturing here in the state
of Arizona and, of course,around the nation.
So we're pretty excited to seemore and more advanced packaging
happening in the state ofArizona and in the US, and the
University of Arizona has a long, long story and track record of
contributing new innovations topackaging in fields like

(03:47):
materials science andengineering, for example, but
also chemical engineering,electrical engineering and so
forth.
So we have a lot of interestedfaculty who are working in the
field and students who arereally excited to think about
what their careers might looklike as they think about coming
into the semiconductor sector.
That also led us into aterrific engagement with

(04:09):
Chandler Unified School District, in which we're building the
nation's first career andtechnical education program,
which is a two-year program tointroduce students to
semiconductor manufacturing, andthat's how we end up in a
partnership with ChandlerUnified School District and
Janet as we collaborate to buildthat program, which launches in

(04:31):
July 2025, which is just aroundthe corner.

Françoise von Trapp (04:34):
Okay, so that brings us to Janet.

Janet Hartkopf (04:36):
Hello, I'm the coordinator for emerging
technologies with ChandlerUnified School District, so my
job involves starting our newand exciting programs, and
Semiconductor is one of them,and so I met Liesl, as she said,
in 2023, when they began theirinitiative, and I was told by a
colleague of mine from U of Ahey, you need to come down.

(04:56):
So I did, and the rest ishistory.
So we are working on thenation's first two-year career
and technical education programfor high schoolers.
I'm excited to say that rightnow, we have 40 students who
will be beginning that journeyin July.
We're really excited aboutopening up the space at Hamilton
High School in Chandler andordering equipment all the

(05:21):
exciting things that arehappening right now.
And just being here, part ofIMAPS, is a great education
experience for me Meetingvendors and companies that have
already offered hey, can we comein and speak, and things like
that.
So it's just been an awesomeexperience.

Françoise von Trapp (05:37):
So this is a program, a two-year program at
the high school level.

Janet Hartkopf (05:40):
Yes, ma'am.

Françoise von Trapp (05:41):
So they are learning this way before they
normally would have.
I mean, and this isn't just anengineering program, this is
actually a semiconductor program.

Janet Hartkopf (05:51):
Yeah.

Françoise von Trapp (05:51):
That's fantastic.
So now U of A is down in Tucson, mostly right, but you do have
satellite campuses.

Liesl Folks (05:57):
Yeah, we have a campus in Chandler already, and
Chandler is, if you like, groundzero for the semiconductor
sector in the state of Arizona.

Françoise von Trapp (06:09):
That would make sense Right Home of NXP,
home of Intel.

Liesl Folks (06:13):
Microchip has long had facilities here, motorola's
been here and lots and lots ofsuppliers to the industry have
established.

Françoise von Trapp (06:24):
If they're not originally from there, they
have established a presence inthe Chandler area.
So it really is kind of likeyou know they keep calling it
the Silicon Desert.
I like to think of it as theSilicon Oasis.

Liesl Folks (06:35):
I love that.
I like that better Isn't thatso much better.

Françoise von Trapp (06:37):
Because the desert desert's like dry.
But I'm told that Dubai hasclaimed Silicon Oasis.

Liesl Folks (06:44):
So we're going to have some work to do to reclaim
that.
So I want to give a shout outto the city of Chandler, which
has been tremendously supportiveof the industry but indeed very
supportive of our efforts tobuild improved educational
pathways for people into thesemiconductor sector.

(07:05):
So we've had a lot of supportfrom the city as well, which we
really appreciate.

Françoise von Trapp (07:10):
So how are the students responding to this
opportunity?
You said you already have 40students enrolled and do they
actually get to go in?

Janet Hartkopf (07:20):
and you know, are they working in like a clean
room environment ormanufacturing environment,
because you talked aboutordering tools they're not going
to go into a clean roomenvironment, but we are going to
have some very exciting toolsin there, and so we're going to
have a mechatronic system, aneight-piece mechatronic system.
We'll have a universal robot.
They'll work on soldering.
They're going to work withdifferent pneumatics and vacuum

(07:45):
system.

Liesl Folks (07:46):
PCB board printer Exactly exactly so.

Janet Hartkopf (07:50):
Part of a CTE program is that 51% of the
curriculum is hands-on, so again, over half of it will be
tangible, hands-on experienceswith different types of
machinery, industry-grademachinery, not glorified
children's toys, but so thatwhen the students are done with

(08:10):
the program they are able to gointo industry as a Tier 1
tech-level technician if theychoose to, or they can go to the
community college or on to theuniversity.
The important thing at the highschool level is to ensure that
you have multiple pathways forwhichever direction that student
wants to go and they'reprepared, and that's one of the

(08:31):
things that we've done verypurposefully in building this is
that the curriculum is broadenough that, should the
semiconductor industry, you know, have a little bit of a lull,
that the students still havesomeplace to go and relatable
industries lull, that thestudents still have someplace to
go in relatable industries.

Françoise von Trapp (08:47):
Okay, so many questions.
So what is U of A providing tosupport this?

Liesl Folks (08:57):
So we have all the technical expertise, if you like
.
So we're partnering withChandler to build curriculum and
Chandler, of course, is thevoice for this is what's the
appropriate level of content foreach of the pieces of the
curriculum.
But my faculty is coming to thetable and saying here's what we
want to teach in each of the 16different core units that we
have as part of the technicalcurriculum.

(09:19):
I want to give another shoutout to NXP, because NXP really
helped us to get started byshowing us what they had done
with Austin Community College,with the STARS program which you
might have heard of becauseit's had quite a lot of good
publicity which was to takeworking adults and give them a

(09:39):
four and a half week immersionto get them ready for
entry-level technician roles.
So we have worked with AustinCommunity College.
We've absorbed their curriculumfor technician training.
We've wrapped around that morecontent that is grounded in
basic science, applied math andcritical reasoning skills.

(10:03):
So they've got a four and ahalf week full-time program.
Ours is a two-year program, sowe've got more time and a slower
pace of learning.
So you're dealing with youngerand we're dealing with younger
students.
So we're adapting the level oflearning to the grade level of
the students and then bolsteringit with science, math and

(10:23):
critical reasoning, and that isa really important skill that's
not being taught very much thesedays, so I'm really happy to
see you saying that.

Françoise von Trapp (10:31):
So students will be getting their full high
school curriculum.

Janet Hartkopf (10:34):
In addition Is this an add-on, it's an elective
, it's an elective.

Françoise von Trapp (10:38):
Okay.
So, scott, your role at NXP.
You were talking about yourrole at IMAPS, but you also work
for NXP, so how much has NXPbeen involved in this and
supporting this?

Scott Hayes (10:50):
Thank you.
I volunteer a lot of time withIMAPS.
I talk about the foundation abit.
My full-time job is astechnical director at NXP,
focusing on advanced packaging,so we're kind of the industry
recipients of this eventually,right?
So we've had involvement insome of these workforce
development programs andproviding some guest lecturers

(11:12):
and providing some support hereand there.
What I want to really talkabout is the difference that we
see in students that have thesehands-on types of experiences.
We routinely hire interns.
We're hiring new collegegraduates regularly and it is an
obvious difference in thecandidates that we see and the
students that are coming foremployment, those that have had

(11:34):
the hands-on experience andthose that have had the formal
training specific to ourindustry and even more
specifically these days toadvance packaging.
It's a remarkable difference inthe candidates, not just at the
interviewing level but thenalso subsequently performance on
the job.
So that's a really big benefitto the employee population
coming along in Arizona and theUS as a whole.

Françoise von Trapp (11:57):
So there's a huge advantage to the industry
to support this, because you'rebasically creating a talent
pipeline from the ground up.
Yeah, exactly I mean, we've beentalking about the workforce
shortage in this industry and Ithink initially there was a lot
of tapping into either at theuniversity level or, you know,

(12:18):
veterans is another source butfor a long time we've been
talking about how we really needto excite these students at a
younger and younger age, thatthey're making their decisions
long before they go into highschool, and I've talked to some
high school kids at IMAPS eventswho are like I started in the
robotics club in fourth gradeand have known since the fourth

(12:38):
grade.
And Janet, you work in a Kthrough 12 environment, I do.
You work in a K-12 environment,I do.
At what age do you think it'sgood to start introducing these
kids to this opportunity thatthey'll have when they get to
high school, or how is thatbeing handled?

Janet Hartkopf (12:54):
You know, if it was me, I would start infusing
careers as soon as we could, assoon as we could.
But that being said, 6th, 7thgrade absolutely.
I know at Chandler we'rerevising our junior high program
to make it career-centric, andso our students will be
receiving more directinstruction as far as different

(13:15):
careers that are available,including semiconductors.
So I'm building my own pipelinewithin the school districts as
well, and part of that is alsoeducating our teachers, our
staff, our counselors andeverybody about the potential.
I simply cannot reach everybody, and so if I educate other
teachers about theseopportunities, they can talk to
their students as they see themgravitating towards certain

(13:37):
things and talking to them aboutthose careers as well.

Françoise von Trapp (13:41):
Yeah, that is great.
So, in addition to a careerpath directly out of school,
obviously you mentioned thatsome of them will go on to
community college or even a fouryear program.
So are they already earningcredits in high school towards
that?

Janet Hartkopf (13:57):
Yes, they will be.
It's kind of exciting.
I'm going to let Dr Folks talkabout that one though.

Liesl Folks (14:01):
Sure, we're in a terrific relationship with
Maricopa Community Colleges.
In particular, we've got aterrific colleague, Rick Vaughn,
who works at Rio Salado College, who's helping us frame up what
the certificate is that thestudents will be awarded for
completing the high schoolprogram, which is a technical
certification, and they will getcollege credit for the work

(14:27):
that they've done in the highschool program which they can
take with them into a communitycollege program if that's their
preference, or into one of theuniversities in the state of
Arizona system, so that'sNorthern Arizona University,
Arizona State University or theUniversity of Arizona.
They can take those collegecredits with them and pursue a

(14:49):
bachelor's degree, hopefullyalso master's degrees and PhDs,
because we need workers fromacross the entire educational
spectrum program that's beeninitiated and working with U of
A, they would actually come outbeing eligible to go at any of
the you know.

Françoise von Trapp (15:09):
their credits would transfer to any of
the universities in the system.
So here's the big question howis this all being funded?
Sure.

Liesl Folks (15:16):
The University of Arizona is extremely grateful to
the Arizona Commerce Authorityfor providing funding that got
us going and gave us somebandwidth to kick this off, and
just full credit to the ACA forhelping us get this going.
But the Chandler Unified SchoolDistrict is buying equipment

(15:37):
and renovating a space for us tokick this off.
We have an enormous amount ofin-kind support from 15 major
companies here in the state ofArizona who form our steering
committee.
So we have agreements with allof them that they are going to
help us shape that curriculumand they are giving us data sets

(16:01):
and real-world situations thatwe can bring into the classroom
so that students can grapplewith real-world problems that
have a technical component, abasic science component, an
applied math component andcritical reasoning component in
the form of case studies ordifferent types of structures in
terms of the pedagogy.

(16:22):
But they're rich problems forstudents to grapple with so they
can start to understand thecomplexity of working in the
semiconductor sector, whereevery day is a new challenge I
can share from deep experience.

Françoise von Trapp (16:38):
That's what makes it so fun and exciting
right is that you're not goingto do the same thing every day?
I mean, who likes that?
I know some people do, Not many, Not many.
But Scott, now NXP.
You mentioned internships.
Is this part of the programwhere, even at the high school
level, these kids can get intointernships?

Janet Hartkopf (16:55):
I'm going to say , and then I'm going to defer to
Scott, that normally a studentneeds to be 18 years old because
of insurance reasons andliability student needs to be 18
years old because of insurancereasons and liability.

Scott Hayes (17:08):
Our typical internship model is one of at
least a year of experiencewithin undergrad and typically
our typical intern will have acouple of more years experience
after that.
But we're always looking forstudents who we will be able to
give an opportunity to.
I always liken it to anextended interview for both
parties, for the company as wellas for the student.
It needs to be a good fit longterm.

(17:29):
So the internships we alwayslook at them as a stepping stone
towards full-time employment.
You know, if it's going to workout for the company and it's
also going to work out for theindividual engineer or
technician, for that matter,then it's a good fit.
You know, the model forengagement with high school I
don't think has been welldeveloped at this point between
industry and high schools and Ilook forward to leveraging our

(17:52):
foundation here at IMAPS, aswell as some industry
involvement, to figure out whatthat model needs to look like
for greatest success, becausethis is a pathway into industry
or pathway into higher education.
This is a pathway into industryor pathway into higher
education, and the semiconductorindustry in the United States
is getting into a bit of arebirth phase right now, so this

(18:13):
all needs to work well together.
No-transcript.
Hopefully that's a strongindication.

Françoise von Trapp (18:20):
Well, I think this is amazing.
This is a beautiful example ofwe don't have government sitting
here right now, but youmentioned the ACA.
We've got industry, we've gotacademia and how this whole
ecosystem is coming together toreally solve a very large
challenge in this industry.
What else do we need to know?

Liesl Folks (18:39):
So one of the exciting features of the career
and technical education programthat we're building is Janet
already said it's first in thenation, but we're building it
digitally so that as soon aswe've launched it we're able to
expand it to other schooldistricts around the nation.
So we're really excited to beable to share with other
communities that want to be ableto bring their students into

(18:59):
the semiconductor sector.
A really a ready-made pathwayfor them to bring students into
a high school program and getthem ready to pathway into the
semiconductor sector.

Françoise von Trapp (19:09):
Where can people go to learn more?
Is there one central websitearea or?

Liesl Folks (19:14):
something Sure.
You can check out our websiteat the Center for Semiconductor
Manufacturing at the Universityof Arizona.
If you type CSM Arizona, itwill pop right up, and we've got
all of these activitiessummarized there and, of course,
all of our research anddevelopment projects that are
underway as well.
So there's this and much, muchmore, but it's terrific to be

(19:37):
able to talk about this program.
We're really excited to see itlaunch in a few months.

Françoise von Trapp (19:41):
So thank you all for joining me today.

Janet Hartkopf (19:44):
Thank you, thank you.

Françoise von Trapp (19:49):
Okay, so my next guests are from Arizona
State University.
I'm speaking with Chris Bailey.

Chris Bailey (19:56):
Research professor at Arizona State University,
joined ASU two years ago.
Before that I was based over inLondon in the UK, but 25 years
plus researching into packaging,electronic packaging,
semiconductor packaging, all theEDA and modeling and simulation

(20:18):
that goes with that thermalmanagement reliability.
So delighted to be here at ASUand I'm leading up on the
packaging activities at ASU withregards to research and
workforce development.

Françoise von Trapp (20:33):
Okay, and we will circle back to that.
Can you introduce your studentsfor me?
Are these both your students?
Yes, they are.

Chris Bailey (20:41):
So I'd like to introduce Pallavi Praful.
Yes, and Pallavi joined me justover a year ago.
Pallavi, would you like to saya few things about?

Pallavi Praful (20:53):
yourself.
So hello everyone.
I'm Pallavi Praful.
I'm a second year PhD studentat ASU and I work with Dr Chris
Bailey at ASU.
My focus of my PhD research isadvanced semiconductor packaging
modeling and simulation.
So I have an undergraduatedegree in electrical engineering

(21:15):
and a master's degree from UKHeriot-Watt University in Smart
Systems Integration.
So this course was all aboutMEMS design, sensor design, and
I did quite a bit of modelingand simulation there.
So now I use that skills inadvanced packaging analysis.

Françoise von Trapp (21:37):
Okay, great , and we have.

Chris Bailey (21:40):
Rohit Gandhi, who again has attended some of my
courses and is doing researchlooking at RDL layers and their
behavior.

Rohit Ghandi (21:53):
Is that right?
Yeah, so I did my bachelor'sback in India and I did my
master's and I'm doing my firstyear PhD here in ASU under Dr
Chris Bailey.
And I'm doing my first year PhDhere in ASU under Dr Chris
Bailey.
I'm a mechanical engineer byheart and it's kind of a
different feel for me becauseuntil and unless I attended Dr
Bailey's co-design and packagingclass, I never knew that this

(22:17):
electronic design is not justfor electrical people, it's kind
of co-design, it's formechanical material science and
mechanical engineers as well.
So I'm doing my PhD inreliability analysis of advanced
packaging, particularly focuses, as Dr Bailey mentioned, in RDL
days.

Françoise von Trapp (22:35):
That gives me a great question for the
three of you.
None of you are Arizona natives.
None of you started your winterschool here.
What brought you to Arizona andASU to pursue this next part of
your careers?

Chris Bailey (22:49):
I was very aware of the sort of ecosystem here in
Phoenix and the Arizona region.
In actual fact, 30 years agowhen I started my career, all

(23:10):
the papers I was reading inpackaging was by Amcor, based
here in Phoenix.
So what I have seen over thelast few years is significant
growth in the semiconductorindustry here, building on what
was already here, and certainlywe've seen that with TSMC Amcor
building a big facility here forpackaging and what with the
CHIPS Act here in the US.
I was aware of that a couple ofyears ago and once I was

(23:34):
approached by ASU to considermoving here, I certainly gave
that a lot of thoughts and madethe decision.
It's actually quite nice hereweather-wise.

Françoise von Trapp (23:45):
It is.
It's a little toasty in thesummer.
We just completed our hottestyear on record.

Chris Bailey (23:54):
You could be thermally cycled.
A few times I have beenactually going back and forward
from London to here, but most ofthe time it is a great place to
live.

Françoise von Trapp (24:02):
If you can get out of here in the summer,
it's delightful.
So the two of you, Rohit andPallavi, what brought you to
Arizona?

Rohit Ghandi (24:10):
Speaking about me, I worked a lot with cooling
during my bachelor's and Iwanted to work in cooling.

Françoise von Trapp (24:18):
So you came to the hottest place on earth.
I'm just kidding.

Rohit Ghandi (24:22):
So I realized ASU has published a lot of research
in electronic schooling.

Scott Hayes (24:26):
And.

Rohit Ghandi (24:26):
Intel has been a great partner with ASU for a
really long time and Intel atPhoenix has done a lot of
research in electronic schooling.
So that was my initialmotivation to get into my
master's program.
And later I realized, oh my God, it's a whole ecosystem here.
You have a TSMC, now you haveAmcor, and it's kind of a very
different field now to be inpackaging.

Pallavi Praful (24:49):
And Pallavi.
I completed my master's in UKin 2021.
In census, you don't have a lotof advanced packaging mostly,
but I was made aware of thisfield by a professor that I work
closely with in UK and Ilearned more about ASU and
Arizona and I saw that therewere a lot of leaders in the

(25:12):
advanced packaging space locatedin Arizona.
So, yeah, that was my mainmotivation to move into Arizona.
And how do you like it?
I really like it a lot, uh.
So I I was raised in dubai, soI feel the climate is very uh
similar and I feel there's a lotof uh similar minded folks

(25:34):
working in my field, so it'svery easy for me to network
being in arizona.
Uh, that has been a big pluspoint.

Chris Bailey (25:41):
Yeah, another major attraction to come here
was the Macro Technology Worksfacility.

Françoise von Trapp (25:49):
This is fairly new, though, right.

Chris Bailey (25:51):
Well, no, Macro Technology Works facility at ASU
has been there for over 20years.
It was originally built as aMotorola fab.
The scale is quite large in thecapabilities we have there, but
it's been able to work withindustry scale tools and we're
working very closely with DECA.

(26:12):
So a whole 300mm fan outweighfor the packaging pilot line for
students to work with as wellas other facilities across ASU.
But having that sort of scaleto do research on and thinking
about how you can bridge thatgap from lab to fab, that

(26:33):
facility is quite unique forresearch as well as workforce
development.

Françoise von Trapp (26:39):
So a year ago at IMAPS TPC, we interviewed
Zach Holman about the Swap Hub,which you're a part of.
Can you update us on that andother activities that are
happening here as a result ofthis effort to build the
ecosystem in Arizona between theindustry partners and the local

(27:00):
government, the ACA and ASU?

Chris Bailey (27:02):
So the SWAP hub, the Southwest Advanced
Prototyping Hub, is one of themicroelectronics commons hubs
which was funded under the CHIPSAct.
There was $2 billion set asideto support these hubs, so that's
been running for over a yearnow.

(27:24):
It has 190 plus members, soreally facilitating this
collaboration with industryWithin the Swap Hub.
Heterogeneous integration isone of the core capabilities, so
we're looking at heterogeneousintegration and other
capabilities and looking atthose innovations for systems

(27:47):
for the aerospace and defensemarkets.
Five projects are running, so,as well as funding to support
the capabilities, we have fiveprojects in AI hardware, 5g, 6g
and leap ahead technologies.
So that's running very well.
The infrastructure is all beingbuilt up, which includes the

(28:13):
DECA pilot line for packaging,so that's one of the big
projects we've had in the lasttwo years.
The other one that was recentlyannounced, at the end of last
year, was the SHIELD project.

Françoise von Trapp (28:24):
Right, and SHIELD is an acronym and it
stands for.

Chris Bailey (28:28):
Substrate-based heterogeneous integration
leading to advances in the US.

Françoise von Trapp (28:34):
Okay, and is this also funded under the
CHIPS and Science Act?

Chris Bailey (28:38):
Yes, it is so.
As part of the CHIPS andScience Act there was the NAPMP
program and the research part ofthat and the first call for
research projects.
The aim there was to fund threetypes of substrate developments

(29:00):
very innovative substrates.
Types of substrate developmentsvery innovative substrates One
would be on organics, one onglass and one on silicon as
being the core parts of thesubstrate.
So ASU was successful with DECAin achieving a $100 million

(29:21):
award to use fan at wafer-levelpackaging technology to develop
these very advanced substrates.
Now, both within the SWAT cluband SHIELD, there are workforce
development activities.

Françoise von Trapp (29:34):
Okay, and so can you explain a little bit
about the workforce development,Because that is one of the big
issues right now is you know?
We have this industry that's onexplosive growth tracks.
The demand is there.
Some of the challenges are notjust having the infrastructure
and the fabs available, but alsothe workforce to run those fabs

(29:55):
.
So what is ASU doing to helpgrow that workforce?

Chris Bailey (30:04):
Well as Pallavi and Rohit were mentioning.
Pallavi is an electricalengineer, rohit's a mechanical
engineer.
So with regards to workforcedevelopments, I've been quite
pleased over the last two years.
A number of new grad courses atASU.
The first course infundamentals of semiconductor

(30:26):
packaging, year one, startedwith 27 students.
It's been taught this semester.
It's now 17.

Françoise von Trapp (30:34):
That's excellent.
It's not just about being anengineer, it's understanding the
application of what you'relearning into industry.
And you have different pathsyou could have taken and you're
both pursuing a semiconductorwell, an advanced packaging path
.

Chris Bailey (30:47):
Exactly exactly, and the other one that Rohit
mentioned, co-design andmodeling very core, underpinning
technology for advancedpackaging.
That started with 30 and was 50last semester, so it's great to
see growth there.
And then, as within ourgraduate programs, we have
developed micro-credentialsstackable micro-credentials as

(31:13):
we call them and we're teachingthose to support workforce
development.
So that's being developed underthe SWAP Hub and being taken
forward through what is the ITSEprogram funded by the
Department of State.
And with regard to SHIELD, thisis exciting because a whole

(31:34):
number of other courses thatwe're looking at.
Reliability is really important,so we're working with other
institutions like the Universityof Maryland as part of the
SHIELD project, but we're alsosetting up a teaching I call it
a surface mount technology line,but it will be more than that.

(31:56):
This will allow students tohave hands-on experience in
packaging processes as well asthe characterization of those
packages and reliability ofthose packages.
So this SMT line will be fundedunder SHIELD and be used for
hands-on experience and tooutreach to win hearts and minds

(32:21):
, going right back to K-12, youknow.
So this is high schools andtrain the trainer, as we call it
.
We are putting together what wecall packaging on wheels.
So this is going to be abus-type facility with packaging
equipment on there.
We'll be taking that to sciencefairs around the country,

(32:44):
visiting high schools and youthink about Arizona reaching
those places where many very,potentially very bright students
and members of the workforce ofthe future.
They may never come to Phoenix,they may never see what's going
on here.
So we'll reach out to them.

Françoise von Trapp (33:01):
So we've been talking a lot about the
CHIPS Act funding, and theelephant in the room with the
administration shift is willthis CHIPS Act funding be gutted
and how much of it have youalready received?
Does CHIPS Act funding begutted and how much of it have
you already received, and whatis going?

Chris Bailey (33:23):
to make it assure that you're going to get the
rest of the funding that you'vebeen promised.
Well, I just mentioned two verysignificant projects the SWAP
Hub and the SHIELD project.
So ASU has been incrediblysuccessful as an academic
institution within the CHIPS Actinitiatives.
Now you think about the CHIPSAct, it's very much about
reshoring.

Françoise von Trapp (33:43):
Right.

Chris Bailey (33:44):
Reshoring that capability, because the most
advanced capabilities need to behere in the US, and with
companies like DECA, well,they're here.
So how do we build on that?
Right, so it is about shoringin and, francois, there's
numerous ways I guess that youcould think about how to

(34:07):
encourage companies to buildhere.
But the other big part of theCHIPS Act was to support the
companies that are here withscience and innovation.
Right?
So the research side.

Françoise von Trapp (34:16):
And advanced packaging especially.

Chris Bailey (34:18):
And it is a very big part of the research agenda
because, if we think aboutpackaging for HPC and AI, well,
Moore's Law has been running outof steam for some time, so the
innovation is going to behappening with the packaging and
packaging innovation in otherareas as well.

(34:39):
So your question about futurefunding currently very
successful at ASU significantamounts of funding supporting
our infrastructure and research.
Rohit here is actually workingon an SRC project that we
recently received and, mostimportantly, it's this
engagement of industry, isn't it?

(35:00):
And this is all enabling right.
But you've got to be able tosupport the research and
innovation.
There is NSF, there is othertypes of programs here in the US
, but I do think that part ofthe CHIPS Act would, I assume,
naturally proceed whateverhappens elsewhere.
But I would imagine that wouldcontinue and certainly we're

(35:25):
really working hard on thecurrent projects.
We have to ensure that they do.

Françoise von Trapp (35:30):
So you've received some of that funding
already.

Chris Bailey (35:32):
Oh, under the SWap , Hub and the Shield projects.
Yes, they have been funded.
We have started and we areprogressing as to plan on those.

Françoise von Trapp (35:44):
Well, here's hoping it all sticks.

Chris Bailey (35:46):
And also Francois.
Look what's going on in Europeand elsewhere.
I mean it's happening, they'removing ahead and we need to do
that in the US as well,absolutely Like I say with
regards to encouraging companiesto invest.
Numerous ways of doing that andI understand that.
But the science, the innovation, the research, you have to

(36:08):
support that.

Françoise von Trapp (36:10):
And just before we wrap up, I want to ask
each of you, rohit and Alavi.
And just before we wrap up, Iwant to ask each of you, rohit
and Alavi, what would you say tostudents thinking about what to
do with their STEM educationand how they could you know if
you had any advice to give?

Pallavi Praful (36:25):
Yes, so I believe that one thing that
brought me to the semiconductorindustry was that I tried to be
very strong in my fundamentals.
In like physics and math.
Chemistry was not such a strongsubject for me, but being very
strong in your fundamentals canget you like really far ahead in
your STEM.

(36:46):
A lot of technology mightchange, but it will give you the
ability to adapt quite quickly.
And, yeah, semiconductorpackaging is a very
multidisciplinary platform.
There's a lot of work formaterial science engineers,
mechanical engineers, electricaland chemical engineers.
Whatever STEM field you'repursuing right now, pursue it

(37:09):
very passionately, yeah, and tryto just explore some problems
in semiconductor industry rightnow, and if you feel interested,
then definitely pursue that.

Rohit Ghandi (37:21):
I kind of have a different opinion on that one.
Regarding fundamentals, Ialways think about how can I
apply stuff.
If I have to give an advicewhenever I read a topic, how can
I apply this in my life, evenif in these lectures?
How can I use this in my PhDdissertation?
How can I use this?
So, based on this applicationperspective, I think you can

(37:42):
really find a value.
How can I use this skill andhow can I contribute myself to
the industry?
So, for example, when I hadgood understanding of thermal
background, I thought how can Iapply this in semiconductor
industry?
So I really found my way andthat is how I think it is
becoming more and more important.
And how can I get benefit?

(38:04):
Rather, how can I benefit thecommunity?
How can a skill that I have canhelp build this organization?
So I think finding a value andusing your skill to apply that
value would help you.

Françoise von Trapp (38:17):
Excellent, excellent.
When you both started out onyour path, your career path in
university was semiconductorindustry on your mind already.

Rohit Ghandi (38:27):
Not at all for me.

Pallavi Praful (38:28):
For me perhaps because I did my undergraduate
in electronics, so a lot ofinterest for my fellow
classmates was in the transistor, the silicon design and
software development like coding, embedded devices for code
devices etc.
Yeah, everybody was focused alot on the silicon design and a

(38:50):
lot of them have turned out tobe like analog design engineers
etc in that field.
But we weren't very aware ofadvanced packaging.
But through my master's andother platforms I have been very
informed about the innovationhappening in this field.

Rohit Ghandi (39:12):
Personally, I was an IC engine guy.
I'm a mechanical engineer sincea kid.
I was thinking about how can Iuse my skills to build vehicles.
Then I really found a problemthat cooling these vehicles is a
big challenge, and particularlyfor EV industry.
So I got passionate about thatThen.
From cooling electric vehiclesto cooling ICs.
That is how I transitionedmyself.

(39:32):
Okay, it was just a flow andluckily I found myself in this
position.
But yeah, I started with ICengine.
Now I started with ICs.

Françoise von Trapp (39:42):
So, when you think about the
opportunities that are beingmade available, the education or
the the focus on semiconductorindustry itself at younger and
younger grades, if you you hadhad that, would that have been
advantageous to you?

Pallavi Praful (39:57):
Yeah, I would definitely think so.
It's very important to bringsome sort of awareness to very
young students aboutsemiconductors, like, for
instance.
Now everybody, even kids, knowabout coding because they see
software like websites andapplications on their phone and
generally you're curious like,how is this working?
What's happening at the backend?

(40:18):
Making them more aware aboutthe hardware that holds the
software, that would be reallygreat and, yeah, especially for
students who are very interestedin the physics behind it's
working and I have an opinionthat there are really actually
not a lot of awareness.

Rohit Ghandi (40:37):
When I came to ASU and I got involved in one of
the research, that's how I gotto know about the role of
packaging.
While joining ASU I didn't havea lot of understanding of
packaging.
So if I had that background itwould have been really helpful,
because even when I go back toIndia and talk with my
batchmates, they think what areyou doing in electronics
industry?
I was like how do you make this5 nanometer transistor?

(40:59):
You need processes, you need alot of process engineers, you
need a lot of development andR&D for that, and it's a field
that everybody needs tocollaborate.
So if there was an awareness,it would have been really taken
off with a very differentapproach.

Françoise von Trapp (41:12):
Last question when you're done with
your studies, will you stay andlook for work within the United
States?

Pallavi Praful (41:19):
For me.
Yes, I'm married, my husband'shere and some of my family is
also based in the US, and I alsofeel US is at the forefront of
microelectronics development, soI really would like to carve
out a career for myself in theUS.
Okay, rohit.

Rohit Ghandi (41:37):
Honestly, I'm not really sure about that.
I want to build my skill setfirst in here and then maybe see
if there is a big electronicsmarket growing in India.
Then I'll probably go back andsee how things go.

Françoise von Trapp (41:52):
Well, I know they are trying to grow the
semiconductor market there andadvanced packaging.
Chris, was there anything youwanted to add?

Chris Bailey (42:00):
It's great to work with students such as Pallavi
and Rohitz, and packaging is aninterdisciplinary area and
within the Fulton Schools ofEngineering at ASU, we've really
got a good platform there toreally develop the great
packaging engineers of thefuture.

(42:20):
I'm looking forward tocontinuing that.

Françoise von Trapp (42:23):
Excellent.
Well, thank you again all forjoining me today.

Chris Bailey (42:26):
Thank you.

Françoise von Trapp (42:27):
Kirsten, let's do it again sometime.

Chris Bailey (42:29):
Sure Sounds good, thank you.

Françoise von Trapp (42:36):
Next time on the 3D Insights Podcast.
We've got the IMAPS DPC 3DInsights Member Spotlight
featuring perspectives of 3DInsights member companies who
participated in the IMAPS DevicePackaging Conference.
There's lots more to come, sotune in next time to the 3D
Insights Podcast.
The 3D Insights Podcast is aproduction of 3D Insights LLC.