NAC to train civil engineers in clean room technology

In talks with Arizona State University

NAC is gearing up to train civil engineers in clean room technology required for semiconductor manufacturing facilities in the wake of the proposed Fab City project in Hyderabad.

"We are in talks with the Arizona State University, US, to seek its faculty's help in training our engineers in this construction technology," C T Chari, director general of the academy, said here yesterday.

The Arizona State University is specialised in developing building technologies to house chip manufacturing activity, which is ultra sensitive to air pollution at particle or molecular level, he said.

Most of the research and development undertaken by the American university in this field has been actively supported by Intel, the world's number one semiconductor player.

Besides planning to enter into an MoU with the Arizona University for the transfer of knowledge on clean room technology to NAC and teach local engineers on the subject, the academy is also mulling approaching Intel to fund its endeavour in training engineers required for the semiconductor industry, according to Chari.

So far no such training is available in the country as India has no exposure to large-scale chip manufacturing, he added.

"We do not wish to see all the engineers required for the construction of fab facilities being imported. NAC wants to train engineers locally in collaboration with the American university to make them available for the Fab City project," he said.

At least 300 engineers would be required in this specialised area in the country since the downstream industry, apart from chip manufacturing, that follows the onset of semiconductor operations would also require clean room technology in the coming days.

Though SemIndia, the promoter of Fab City, has signed the technology transfer agreement with Intel's rival Advanced Micro Devices, Intel is likely to have a presence in Hyderabad as Nanotech Silicon India Private Limited, promoted by Korean technocrat June Min, is in the process of signing a deal with the company.