Portland Community College's Cleanroom Preps Semiconductor Workforce

Portland Community College (PCC) is evolving its microelectronics program alongside industry partners with a state-of-the-art cleanroom that gives students hands-on, advanced practice in a simulated semiconductor production environment.

Opened last September, the 1,152-square-foot facility at PCC’s Willow Creek Opportunity Center in Hillsboro, Ore., includes two vacuum training systems donated by Intel and a simulated automated manufacturing system developed by Festo, an automation technology supplier. Together, the equipment creates a miniature version of the highly automated environments found in commercial semiconductor plants, according to Dorina Cornea-Hasegan, longtime instructor in PCC’s microelectronics technology program.

Students working in the cleanroom practice specialized in manufacturing skills, such as gowning and wafer-handling, according to a news release from the college. The facility includes automated systems where students can troubleshoot a robotic arm, monitor real-time sensor data and work with vacuum systems used in semiconductor manufacturing.

Six months after its grand opening, PCC is focused on training its instructors on how to use the new equipment and formally integrating cleanroom lessons into microelectronics classes, which include certificate and associate degree pathways. Cornea-Hasegan said the program’s introductory course, which teaches cleanroom safety protocols and chip-manufacturing steps at a theoretical level, will benefit from a hands-on component. Higher-level courses could also incorporate the space for lab activities, she said.

“If a student were to graduate and go to work for Micron or any of the other semiconductor companies, we’re replicating what they would see in a real-world environment,” said Ken Caldwell, a Festo sales manager who worked on the partnership with PCC.

Before the lab opened, students practiced repairing equipment or measuring electronic signals at workbenches using tools like multimeters. In the cleanroom, they work with digital twins — software models connected to physical equipment — learning how to interpret system data, manage automation and anticipate potential failures before they occur. This reflects the industry's shift toward data-driven decision-making, Cornea-Hasegan said.

“The entire tool interaction is based on automation. The human interaction and intervention is more and more diminished, and the [reliance] on this network of automated subsystems that make the huge, giant automated cleanroom becomes predominant,” she said. “This is, I would say, the big shift in the industry right now, and with acquiring the Teaching Cleanroom and by starting to teach classes and offer activities in this Teaching Cleanroom, we are getting a few steps closer to the real industry.”
Beyond technical skills, the cleanroom also introduces students to the collaborative environment of a fabrication facility. Instead of working in pairs at benches, students operate in teams of six to 10 people as they would in the field. Inside the cleanroom, Cornea-Hasegan said, communication often happens through digital systems controlling equipment, rather than through conversation. She said it's important for students to learn to communicate this way, so they're aware of moving automated systems and protocols for safety and contamination.

While PCC has standalone pieces of equipment in existing labs, the cleanroom environment encourages what Cornea-Hasegan calls “system thinking.”

“In the Teaching Cleanroom, where everything is integrated, where the tools talk to each other, the system thinking starts to develop,” she said. “You have to be aware of all the automated parts moving around you, about all the risks and about all the responsibilities that you have as a human walking in that strange, foreign place.”

The updated infrastructure could make PCC’s training programs useful to those new to semiconductor manufacturing, as well as to members of the workforce looking to upskill and keep up with technological changes impacting the industry.

Caldwell said the need for trained workers in the field is growing as manufacturers expand domestic production following pandemic-era supply disruptions.

The U.S. semiconductor sector is projected to add 115,000 jobs by 2030, but 67,000 of those positions could remain unfilled if the current pipeline of trained workers does not expand, according to a 2023 report by the Semiconductor Industry Association.

PCC is also working with business partners to ensure its training will meet this need. Cornea-Hasegan said the college has a longstanding relationship with Intel, which helped train newly hired technicians when PCC began its microelectronics technology program more than 30 years ago as the semiconductor industry expanded in Oregon. The partnership has continued over decades through equipment donations and workforce training programs.

The Teaching Cleanroom is the latest of several facility updates to address new technologies at PCC, such as the opening of a mechatronics lab in 2021 for a technician training in partnership with Intel, according to the university news release.

Additionally, the Willow Creek Facility includes a 1,900-square-foot artificial intelligence lab opened for use last year. The lab allows students to experiment with robotics, virtual reality and machine-learning technologies.