Getting to tour the Micron facility was a very interesting experience. For the first part of the tour we learned what exactly it was that micron made. They make mostly DRAM and Flash based memory, along with designing some image sensors. On site they have a FAB, or fabrication area for these products, and a design area for making newer and better products. Most everything electronic has some form of these chips in them.
The conditions used to make these chips is very extreme. While the chips are being created they never leave a clean box called a FOUP. These boxes store 25 wafers and are transported around the FAB by machines that run on a rail system on the ceiling. The wafers are created by “growing” different chemical reactions on them. I think that is amazing that a computer part is created by growing different reactions on top of something. Different tracks are created by “dry etching very small tracks onto the wafers using different chemicals. All of these reactions are being created in an insanely small area, thousands of times smaller then a human hair. Because of the size that the reactions happen at everything is manufactured in a clean room, and a clean box as well. The clean environment stops any dust from getting onto the wafers and messing up the process.
Many different job types are used in this process of creating these wafers. There are a large number of engineers working on keeping all the machines running. Engineers are also used to make the designs for how to create new and better wafers. Because of the large involvement in chemistry, chemists are employed to make sure all the reactions are working correctly.
I think working at micron would be interesting, but I would need to know more about how the process works. If an internship was available for micron I would take it if they would teach me everything I would need to know. They have a co-op available and I might consider applying this summer. To prepare for a job like this would require more classes and learning more about engineering.
