ONONDAGA, N.Y. — Onondaga Community College (OCC) expects construction will begin in November on the upcoming Micron cleanroom simulation lab, which will be located in the school’s Whitney Applied Technology Center. OCC on Oct. 19 hosted an event at which it released renderings and outlined plans for the lab. The school expects the construction effort […]
ONONDAGA, N.Y. — Onondaga Community College (OCC) expects construction will begin in November on the upcoming Micron cleanroom simulation lab, which will be located in the school’s Whitney Applied Technology Center.
OCC on Oct. 19 hosted an event at which it released renderings and outlined plans for the lab. The school expects the construction effort will finish in 2025. PAC General Contractors of Oswego is the general contractor on the project, OCC tells CNYBJ in an email.
“Our Micron cleanroom-simulation laboratory will be a place where our students will learn, and it will be a showcase for our entire community,” Warren Hilton, president of OCC, said in his remarks during the ceremony. “This cleanroom-simulation laboratory will be built in the very space we are gathered in today.”
The facility will also be available for K-12 students across the region, Hilton adds.
Boise, Idaho–based Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) plans to build a massive semiconductor campus in the town of Clay.
A cleanroom is used to keep contaminants out of the manufacturing process so that it can create chips that are free of defects and provide the reliability that is needed in devices, OCC Professor Mike Grieb, chair of OCC’s applied technology programs, explained in speaking to reporters following the ceremony.
The cleanroom-simulation lab will be a 5,000-square-foot facility. It’ll also have a designation as an ISO (International Organization for Standardization) class 5 and class 6 facility, where students will be trained for careers in the semiconductor and microelectronic industries.
Micron, Onondaga County, and New York State are each contributing $5 million to help pay for the cleanroom-simulation lab, OCC said. Ashley McGraw Architects of Syracuse designed the lab.
Simulation lab purpose
Manish Bhatia, executive VP of global operations at Micron, called the lab “a down payment” on Micron’s future in Central New York.
Bhatia told the gathering that the lab will be able to simulate all manner of operations. That includes processing of wafers, installation and maintenance of equipment, installation and maintenance of facilities, and understanding the execution systems that will be able to move wafers between steps to complete the process flow.
“All of that will be able to be simulated here for students at OCC to be able to learn more about the most advanced manufacturing process in the world,” Bhatia added.
He recalled his visit to OCC in 2022 when he discussed “how there is no manufacturing process on the planet that is more complex than building semiconductors at the leading edge.”
Nanoscale features and devices on wafers cannot have “even the most microscopic defects” fall on them, otherwise quality, reliability yield “will be compromised,” Bhatia noted in his remarks.
“And this cleanroom will be able to simulate all of the precision that goes into building these incredible, magical pieces of silicon that power our world, whether it’s the phone in your pocket, the [personal computer] on your desk, all the things we do in the cloud, the increasingly autonomous vehicles … all of them need memory … and students will be able to get the benefit of first-hand knowledge of how these are built,” Bhatia added.
SUNY campuses have 35,000 students enrolled in programs that are connected to the semiconductor industry and thousands more in programs that are indirectly connected as well, SUNY Chancellor John King, Jr. said in addressing the gathering.
“This [upcoming simulation lab] is an exciting enhancement of the learning for our students and this is important to us at SUNY as we try to prepare thousands of New Yorkers for jobs in the semiconductor industry,” King said.
Besides Hilton, Bhatia, and King, additional speakers at the event included Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon and April Arnzen, Micron executive VP and chief people officer and president of the Micron Foundation.
The Oct. 19 ceremony happened nearly a year after U.S. President Joseph Biden visited OCC for a Micron-related event. Following Biden’s visit, OCC created two Micron-related programs, which it began offering to students in the current (fall 2023) semester. They include an associate degree in electromechanical technology and an electromechanical technology certificate program, OCC said.
In his remarks, Hilton used four words — faster alone, further together. “Because we have all worked together, we have made this moment possible, and by continuing to work together, we can accomplish anything for the good of our students and the good of our entire region,” Hilton said.