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.
04:28Thank you very much.
04:38Thank you very much.
