University of Magdeburg builds talent pipeline for skilled workers in microtechnology

The training and further education of specialists in the field of microtechnology will take place, among other locations, in the cleanroom at the University of Magdeburg. (Photo: Jana Dünnhaupt / University of Magdeburg)

At the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, all projects and formats of professional training and continuing education for semiconductor and microtechnology will be consolidated in the future. To this end, the Microtechnology Staff Unit has been established, which now coordinates all activities in this area and serves as a contact point for partners from politics, non-university science, and regional industry.

"With the establishment of the Staff Unit, we aim to ensure a high level of transparency in the development and implementation of various initiatives and to establish synergy effects within the university, as well as jointly with partners from science, industry, and politics through the shared use of infrastructures such as our cleanroom," said the rector of Magdeburg University, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jens Strackeljan. "Our goal is a comprehensive overall concept for training and further education in microtechnology at Magdeburg University."

Following the resumption of training for microtechnologists and the launch of the new master's programs in Advanced Semiconductor Nanotechnology and Computational Methods in Engineering, a talent pipeline on the topic of the semiconductor industry is being built through the upcoming introduction of a bachelor's program, a Graduate School, and further training offerings, Strackeljan continued. Within this framework, international students and doctoral candidates are to be recruited, a robust network of partners from science, industry, and politics will be established, and joint endowed professorships will be created. Membership of Magdeburg University in the Microtec Academy is also planned, an interregional, cross-company vocational training academy that designs and tests further education specifically for micro- and nanotechnologies nationwide.

The overall concept as a new training approach offers the best conditions for students and trainees at Magdeburg University and can potentially develop a broad portfolio of skilled professionals for the chip industry, said the head of the cleanroom and the Staff Unit at Magdeburg University, Jörg Vierhaus. "By linking trainees' theses with master's and doctoral theses of students, both training paths—dual and academic—can benefit from each other," Vierhaus continued. "Trainees receive topics from current research for their theses, while students get extensive technical support for their dissertations and master's theses."

The core of this overall concept is the cleanroom at Magdeburg University, said Rector Strackeljan. "With the re-establishment of our cleanroom, we have an excellent level of equipment that allows us to undertake this step of a comprehensive training concept and to offer the cleanroom as a core facility to other partners as shared research and training infrastructure." It is a kind of talent factory concept, which is scalable to a certain extent, Strackeljan added. "If the university's efforts in this area of workforce development exceed the current framework, we will need to consider expanding our infrastructure."

Microtechnology and chip production are of crucial importance for the future development of science and industry, added Jörg Vierhaus. "With increasingly smaller and more powerful computer chips, data can be processed and stored in entirely different ways, which is of enormous importance for areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and medical technology," Vierhaus explained. Magdeburg University can make a significant contribution to this in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.