MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN ("MT")

also known as

INSTALL/QUAL TECHNICIAN

2-year (Associates) Degree (AAS) in

Electronics Technology or

Electronics Engineering Technology

Semiconductor manufacturers (such as AMD, Intel, and Microchip) use slighty different terminology for ETs. Although the educational requirements for ETs who work in the semiconductor field are no different than any other ETs, they are called by different names, either "Maintence Tech", or "Install/Qual Tech".

These names reflect their typical duties; unlike many other ET's, MT's do not generally help to develop new products. Rather, they "maintain" the enormously complex equipment that processes the wafers as they go through the fab. Every minute of downtime of these multi-million-dollar tools is extremely expensive to these manufacturers, so these technicians must be intimately familiar with this equipment. They often attend training that is given by the manufacturer of these tools.

Unlike "operators", these technicians do not process wafers. They do not manufacture chips.

Rather, these techs install, calibrate, qualify, and troubleshoot and repair the highly complex machins that are used to process the chips. (The actual production is done by the "operators".)

When new equipment is purchased by a manufacturer like Intel or Microchip, these are the people who get it up and running. This usually requires detailed knowledge of electronic principles and electronic test equipment, and does require an AAS in Electronics.

Some ET's in this field do not work for Semiconductor manufacturers. Rather, they work for "vendors". "Vendors" are the companies that make the equipment that the Semiconductor manufacturers buy to process the wafers. There are numerous vendor companies, with names like ASM, Varian, LAM Research, and many others.

These "vendors" also hire MTs. These MTs become much more specialized that the MTs that are employed by the semiconductor manufacturers; an MT that works for Intel will be familiar with tools from many of the vendors, but an MT that works for Varian will be intimately familiear with Varian's products.

An MT that works at Intel will often swap out a bad board in a Varian tool, while a Varian MT will be able to troubleshoot it down to the component level.

(Note that component-level troubleshooting is not performed in the fab itself. Rather, the faulty board is shipped back to the Varian plant where Varian's MTs can repair them. This sort of component-level repair is not normally done on consumer electronics because ETs are too highly paid; it is cheaper to just by a new DVD player or TV than to fix the old one. But the industrial equipment is highly specialized and expensive, so it makes sense to repair it.