Micron – Kolyo D.

Micron was an amazing place to visit in fact I want to extend a special thanks to Dr. Thompson for working hard to actually not get the trip canceled because of budget cuts due to the Economy. What we saw at Micron was an amazing display of robotics and human interaction thru computers and due to the great working environment that micron provides for the workers they are still required to wear those suits because the job requires cleanliness and organization. Overall it was a great experience and even thou the factory looked like it were completely safe there was a lot of unsafe chemicals and machinery used which shows how all of the employees had to be properly trained and educated to not panic in the event of an emergency. They are fully prepared to handle anything that might go wrong which just seem amazing to me. Overall a great experience.

Micron – Joey M

I definitely thought the Micron trip was worth the time and effort. As beginning engineers it is very important to be exposed to all different kinds of engineering so was can choose which fields interest us and which ones do not. I think there were a lot of people that just weren’t interested by the tour of Micron. This does not mean it was a waste, it only means that this kind of engineering is not for them, and its good that they could learn that now.  I personally found the trip to be very interesting at some points, but then also kind of boring at some. Infrastructure and the process the chips were built in was fascinating and very impressive. However, during the parts where they would actually describe the physical construction of the chips using chemical processes just didn’t catch my attention. This showed me I was more interested in the systems/computer/electrical engineering side to their process rather than the chemical engineering side. I have some interest in Micron’s final product, computer chips and memory, but not that much, so I wouldn’t want to get a job there.

Micron – Ryan C

During the Micron tour, we saw many state of the art technologies and processes that were very interesting. One of the most interesting things on the tour was the overhead robotic delivery system. It was the most entertaining things to watch during the tour. As an engineer, I could not help thinking of the precision that was required in the system to make it work like it did. It had to be fast, but it also had to be stable enough and strong enough to transport heavy loads to their destination without erring even a fraction of an inch. And yet, this part of the assembly process was only a small component in the larger production of memory chips. It was very astonishing to see the processes required to produce such a tiny yet essential part of many electronics. It was also very interesting learn about how the chips were made chemically. There were no robots soldering wiring to a motherboard or any assembly line, at least what we think of as an assembly line. And yet a finish product emerged just like any other factory. I had always wondered how such small parts were manufactured for tiny electronics; I never thought it would be by using chemical processes. As for the tour itself, it was disappointing to observe such mechanical and chemical precision behind a glass barrier. I also felt that the presentation was more to advertise for the company than to actually inform us about memory chips. I felt that the information I gathered could have been obtained within half the time, as there was not a substantial amount about the actual properties of the memory inside the finished products.

Micron Tour- Aysha R

Going to Micron was a very interesting, informing experience. I had never even heard of Micron before the tour, and experiencing it first hand was exciting. Micron is a company that produces wafers that have computer chips inside of them that store memory. The have worked with many big name companies that are coming up with new ideas that include improving cars in a way that the cars can communicate with you. What interests me the most was that the car would be able to sense when the driver was becoming drowsy, when you were going out of your lane, when your children weren’t behaving and other things that I never imagined a car would be able to do. I enjoyed the presentation part, but the tour of the facility was truly boring and long. If I had the chance to intern there, I probably would not. I currently have an internship with ABS where I work with navy ships and that is much more interesting than Micron.

Micron – Cory

Going to the Micron facility was an intresting experience however I didn’t really find anything too exciting. The initial presentation of what they do was intresting however it was kind of filled with fluff. To say in short i was more intrested about the process they used to create their product rather than the contributions they make to society and their work ethic. I felt that much of the initial presentation was filled with their recruitment propaganda and their “bragging right” material. The second part of the presentation was much more intresting to me. When we took the actual tour of the micron facility and were having the production process explained to us the trip became much more intresting. I liked to see how they had set up their company and how they were creating their product. While many of the methods they used I found intresting I also found that this was the only intresting thing in the whole trip, the production plant was very boring. There was nothing more to it than a large production plant which, while intresting, was lacking.

Micron Tour – Wesley C

On the Micron tour, I was most intrigued by the robots the company had used. The robot arms never failed and could precisely and accurately place the wafers where they were supposed to be. I was also amazed by how simple the algorithm of creating these wafers were, and yet how complex the process actually was. It seems that very little is actually done by any person. Possible jobs and internships would just most likely be paperwork, something I did not take interest in.  I think it would be cool to create robot machines perhaps but that is likely the work of another company who sells it to Micron.

My own field of engineering, software, was hardly represented. I understand that the product of Micron is employed in various electrical devices that require software engineering, but the product itself doesn’t require any of that. Other than that, I felt that Micron utilized most types of engineering. I personally believe that preparation for a job can only be obtained through experience. To prepare for them, I would have to have similar experience as an intern or elsewhere. College is giving me the knowledge to cope in a working environment, but not the experience.

Micron Tour – Kevin Smith

What I liked most about the Micron tour was when we were learning about what the corporation was all about and what it actually means towards Virginia’s economy. I had no clue that they were the reason computer chips pushed tobacco aside as the number one selling product in Virginia. The types of jobs that Micron offers are engineering, accounting, human resources, and even marketing. The various types of engineering fields that are represented are computer engineers (write programs for robots to work on), electrical engineers, and  mechanical engineers (to build the robots). Micron seems like it would be a very good workplace and I would love to become part of their movement in taking care of the environment. The things that I would need to get a job there would be a BS degree from George Mason also some type of internship or experience to better my chances of getting a job.

Micron – Dave Duston

The trip to Micro was very informative and gave some interesting facts about the company. The tour started off with a power point that gave information on the company’s work and what it contributes to. I found it surprising that Mircon is the last American company that makes semiconductor devices. Also, upon seeing one of the wafers the company produces, I was surprised to see that the chips are not individually manufactured, instead many are produced on wafers and then cut into pieces to be used in different devices. I also did not know just how much chemical work is put into making one of these wafers. There are over 100 steps the chip is put through, many consisting of the use of chemicals. I like how environmentally aware the company is towards the proper disposal of chemicals and how they provide clean water for Manassas.

After the power point we toured the facility and got a chance to view the behind the scenes work done in the factory. We found the the working environment is incredibly clean, cleaner than a hospital, and we could not enter the actual work space. It was interesting to see that the entire process is done by machines, with minimal human input. I thought it was very cool to see the the whole system at work, how all the automated machine work.

Micron does offer internship but they are extremely competitive because the company is made up of some of the country’s best engineers. This internship would give some great job experience and look good on a resume. I would be more interested in the design of the automated system used for the processes than the chemical engineer used to create the wafers. I would not be so interested in a job at Micro because my interests lean more towards defense contracting rather than the creation of semiconductor chips.

Micron Tour – Robert

Our tour of Micron facility in Manasas, Virginia, was very interesting. Our tour started with a presentation on the company and their production of DRAM and flash memory. We were then showed the complicated process of creating microchips and the machines that they used to make them. The most interesting part of the tour was the mechanical system that they used to transport the wafers of microchips. There are many Jobs available at Micron in positions including Accounting, Chemistry, and many fields of Engineering. The kinds of Engineers that Micron employs are Process, Product, Software, Test, Probe, Design, Chemical, and Fabrication Engineers. There are also some internships available for Fabrication and Software Engineers. I do not believe that i would want to work at Micron because what they do is not very interesting to me. However, if i did want a job there, i would need to do many things to prepare for the job. I would first need to switch my major to something related to the work they do at Micron. I would also probably need to take many chemistry courses. I probably should also get a job or internship at another company that does similar work to get some experience in the area that i would work in.

Keith F – Micron Visit Reflections

The visit was quiet memorable it was very nice of the Micron to show us their production processes even with the high level of competition and secrecy of the semiconductor industry. The amount of machinery required to process a single chip is amazing, its cost and how an automated computer system could manage that scale of an operation without crashing. Also, the amount of toxic chemicals that have to be used on a daily basis without incident is astounding and their ability to recycle them to remain a green company is impressive.

I would be very interested in persuing a internship at Micron in the future. This experence would allow me to gain real field experence working with real problems rather then those offered in books. Micron also offers a wide range of fields to gain experence in other then just microchip fabrication.