As the German state of Saxony plans to transform itself into a semiconductor powerhouse centered on TSMC's first European fab in the city of Dresden, new demand has arisen for trained professionals. TSMC and the Technical University of Dresden opened an exchange program in 2023 allowing German students to study semiconductor technology in Taiwan. But has the training been effective?
00:00So I'll close this plate now, and in the next step, I'll fit a preppet hat.
00:10Practicing in a clean room in Dresden, Germany, future leaders in the chip sector are launching
00:15their careers after TSMC broke ground on its joint venture in Europe called ESMC in late 2024.
00:24Welcome to Zoom in, Zoom out. I'm Alec MacDonald. We're here at one of the largest
00:29technical universities in Germany, the Technical University of Dresden.
00:33In order to meet the growing demands for semiconductor talents, the TU Dresden helped
00:38launch the Semiconductor Talent Incubation Program, STIPT, in 2023.
00:44So far, the Saxony State has sent 85 students to study in Taiwan for the six-month program.
00:49And this program also includes two months of training in Taiwan's leading semiconductor company, TSMC.
00:55But we wanted to find out if this program is actually helping students prepare to become
01:00the next leaders in the semiconductor industry.
01:03We're going to talk to a TU Dresden professor and students in semiconductor-related fields
01:07to find out more.
01:09Moretz Fleming, a PhD student at the university, has finished his experiment and begins describing
01:24what he is looking at.
01:26We asked him what he learned from TSMC that he can apply to his work now.
01:36We've learned a lot about semiconductor doping.
01:40And I can consider these effects when I build my devices, when I designed them before.
01:45So this, I will implement dope layers and I learned there how these layers distribute,
01:50what effects they have on device design, so I can profit from that.
01:55If it's about the process itself, there's not really much to say because they are working so
02:02automated with very high purity.
02:04I mean, purity is important for us as well, but not in that range or in that dimension TSMC is using it.
02:11Next, we catch up with Christian Haim, another TU Dresden program student
02:17who became close friends with Moritz during their time in Taiwan.
02:21My name is Christian Haim and I'm studying industrial engineering,
02:25which is a combination of business and engineering.
02:29And I'm right now in my fifth year here at TU Dresden.
02:34Haim immediately reflects positively on his time studying in Taiwan.
02:38Maybe a Taiwanese.
02:42I always say it was the most exciting six months in my life so far.
02:48We had to choose out of three modules and each module contains of three more courses
02:55related to the module.
02:57And so depending on what we choose, we had different courses
03:02for the university, which was like a normal exchange semester.
03:05But we also had some, let's say, cultural activities organized by the university,
03:12by the international office, which was very nice to actually get to know Taiwan and its culture.
03:18What about other takeaways, like cultural differences?
03:22That the working hours are generally longer is one thing we already knew before, like we could expect.
03:27And the way of communicating at work, like within the company, is also a little different.
03:33There's the sandwich principle that we learned about starting with a compliment or something positive,
03:38and then in the intermediate step, telling what could be done better, but ending again with a positive comment.
03:45As the chip industry continues to expand as a truly global business, Professor Carl Leo,
03:51Chair of TU Dresden's Optoelectronics Department, gave us insight into why TSMC's training is so crucial.
03:59Since the industry is moving so quickly at the technological forefront, it's also very important to keep up with training.
04:06And once in a while there are revolutions, like, for instance, the new extended UV systems, which have brought a new step in resolution, and there are also new materials.
04:18So this is continuously evolving, and therefore at universities we have to continuously check whether our education system still works for this purpose.
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