Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1313710
DECEMBER 2020 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 17 four chemistry classes?" They have only one chemistry class behind them before they start doing PCB etching and fabrication for one of our classes. Our program is how it is because the industry drives it. We only teach course- work that the companies around us want stu- dents hired in. We have three PCB fab houses in our area. Two of the companies have hired our stu- dents, not because we made them experts, but we gave them the gist. They understand what photoresist is. They know what it's like to pro- cess it in an amber-lit room, expose it under- neath the mask, and etch it in a tank of hot fer- ric chloride. We cover the types of chemicals, the dangers of handling the chemicals, devel- oping formulas, and why they shouldn't bring a given chemical near the ferric chloride etch. These aren't extremely advanced things that require huge amounts of advanced theory, but at the same time, that person walks into the door of these companies, and upper man- agement says, "They already know a little bit more than some of my employees here, and they know 10,000 times more than anyone else who has ever walked through my door before." They're not an expert, an advanced physicist, or an advanced material science person, but they are valuable from the start. Feinberg: Are you building a relationship with not only the component suppliers but also oth- ers? Vanderford: We have a pretty good relationship with a few companies, including two PCB fab- rication houses near us in Grafton and West- lake, Ohio. One manufactures some of our PCBs for free for the intro class. With the very first PCB that most students get, on the front part, there's a bunch of 1206, 0805, 0603, 0402, and 0201 resistors that are all in series with the back of it on here having parts for capacitors, diodes, transistors, and SOP chips. This is something that they learn how to sol- der in the first six months of the program. And we don't just give them one; we give them a good five or six. We tell them, "You have 24 resistors that you must solder by hand." The next day, we say, "Twelve of those resistors are bad. Hot air and rework them. Put new ones on that are going to look different." We also have a working relationship with a company in Colorado. We've received products from them, too. Johnson: How did such a focused electronic manufacturing program get started in Ohio? Vanderford: This program started in 2013, when we asked for money from the state to begin a program that was involved with electron- ics manufacturing. We thought it would be an interesting skill set. But the question came from the state, "Why do you want to do this, and why here?" LCCC's president at the time was interested in doing this as well, but at the same time, the state said, "We'll give you funding, but there has to be a career path reason behind this." That's when I was hired and started asking, "How many companies around our area do any sort of microelectronics manufacturing?" At first, we found eight companies in the Ohio area that said, "We need technical help." We worked quickly, funding was available, and we didn't want to lose that. Companies told us what coursework the stu- dents should be trained in and asked if there was a way the college could help feed the workforce pipeline with these students. We said we'd make working a credited require- MEMS student training also includes inspection and testing.