FormFactor

To attract and cultivate new talent across the microelectronics industry, virtual SEMICON West 2020 offered wide-ranging career insights for engineering students seeking that vital first job and young employees embarking on their careers. They learned about overcoming challenges at work and gained a competitive edge by connecting with industry leaders for insider knowledge. These are just some examples of how the SEMI Foundation and the SEMI Workforce Development and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives serve as a springboard to careers in the industry and help close its talent gap.Following are experiences of aspiring engineers at SEMICON West and career lessons presented to help them shape the future of our semiconductor industry.Jump-Starting Careers at SEMICON West 2020More than 600 students from over 50 colleges and universities across the Unites States joined SEMICON West 2020 to jump-start their careers in the semiconductor industry. With free access to SEMI’s first virtual expo, they connected with recruiters and companies in the exhibit hall, and sponged up insights from speakers about digital internships, job opportunities, and key trends shaping the digital future.“It was almost overwhelming,” said Jason Wong, 20, a junior at San Jose State University working toward an advanced degree in mechanical engineering. “It was kind of like an engineering student’s dream for contacts and knowledge all on one platform.”Wong visited about 15 booths in the online exhibit hall to speak with company representatives about his field of interest – microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).“MEMS is a pretty niche area, so it was really surprising how many companies were there in this category alone,” Wong said.Through the expo’s chat tool, Wong made some solid contacts and has followed up with several engineers via email, LinkedIn and Zoom meetings, cultivating what he believes will be “some long-lasting and valuable connections.”“I’m not really looking for a job at the moment, but I hope to get an internship at some point,” Wong said. “With the current (COVID-19) outbreak, a lot of events with opportunities to interact are no longer available, so this was an enlightening and useful experience for me I plan to attend again.”On the other side of the country in Virginia, Devayani Pawar, 23, found it easy to network at SEMICON West. She especially appreciated the free pass for students and practical sessions in the Smart Workforce Pavilion tailored to help early-career job seekers find opportunities, build contacts, and polish resumes.She was drawn to the Smart Manufacturing Pavilion because of her skills and interests in toolmaking and wafers.“I understand manufacturing and it’s a hot field right now,” said Pawar, who recently earned her master’s degree in data science from George Mason University. “It’s interesting to me how such tiny components can do so much powerful work.”“A lot of people my age aren’t very aware of the microchip industry – they’re mostly focused on information technology and companies like Google, Amazon, or Facebook,” Pawar said.After landing an internship at Micron Technology analyzing wafers and working in clean rooms, she was wowed by the potential of nanotechnology. Pawar learned about the strong demand for data scientists in semiconductor manufacturing. After making connections at SEMICON West and absorbing information, she now has a better handle on career opportunities.“The recruiters and other contacts I made have been so responsive, and now I have a better understanding of use cases and what companies are seeking,” she said.A Day in the Life of an EngineerRight after college in 2017, Erika Gabrielle Hansen joined Applied Materials as an engineer. She told management she wanted to travel, learn about the “big picture” behind the company’s products, and work with customers.In her presentation A Day in the Life of an Engineer at the SEMICON West Smart Workforce Pavilion, she recalled a whirlwind of unforeseen opportunities, soul-searching challenges, and the rewards of personal, professional, and community growth. She also candidly shared lessons learned about pride, collaboration, and resilience.Her journey began when she had the opportunity to share her aspirations for her at career at Applied and landed a dual role as a process engineer and customer account technologist.In her job as a process engineer, Hansen puts her materials engineering degree from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo to good use analyzing data, solving technical problems, developing new processes to meet customer requirements, and working with cutting-edge technologies. At one moment she might be in a clean-room laboratory wearing a bunny suit doing hands-on work with tools. In another, she could be videoconferencing with hardware, software, and systems engineers worldwide, or preparing a report for upper management.“I was very nervous at first as a process engineer,” Hansen said. “I was the only person in my group who didn’t have a Ph.D. and tried to compensate for that by doing things on my own and not asking for help.”After making a few mistakes, she began to turn to her team for their expertise and sharing the results of her work – both good and bad – with them.“Having humility to ask for help and not let pride get in the way was a huge learning point for me,” she said.As a customer account technologist, she has made a dozen trips to customer sites in four countries to implement new processes or resolve technical issues. By seeing tools in action, she now has what she calls a “whole picture” perspective on their effectiveness, while enjoying the camaraderie of colleagues and sampling local cuisines, sites, and scenes around the world.At one point, she was assigned to lead an international team to resolve an issue with a major customer – her greatest challenge yet and her first time in such a role. She struggled to overcome language barriers and eventually told her boss she might not be the best person to lead the project. He promised to provide more support, and her team went on to resolve the customer’s problem.“I picked myself up, reached out to people with international experience, and changed my communication style,” Hansen said. “I learned it’s okay to be uncomfortable, to flex my leadership style, and be resilient, which is a learned skill.”Building a Better Network: Crucial ConnectionsAndrew Carnegie, one of history’s richest industrialists and most generous philanthropists, said 85 percent of a person’s success is based on “interpersonal relationships” and “abilities to be a human being.” Professional skills account for just 15 percent of success.While advancing to her current role as Chief Marketing Officer for FormFactor, Amy Leong found this advice critical to her career trajectory. Just like the challenge of raising a strong family, building a successful career “takes a village… you can’t do it alone,” she said in her Smart Workforce Pavilion presentation Building a Better Network: Crucial Connections.Outperforming expectations might be essential early in one’s career to get promotions, raises, and the attention, but that mindset goes only so far.“As seniority levels increase, people already know you’re a phenomenal performer and expect nothing less,” Leong said. “So, the higher you go the more vital it is to spend almost a disproportionate amount of effort on building relationships.”Building your network isn’t about the quantity of one’s business cards or LinkedIn connections; it’s about building quality relationships with mutual benefits over the long run.“We need to be smart about return on investment when building our professional network,” she said. “You help me, and I help you. It’s win-win horse trading.”And the most important factor in career success? For Leong, a strong family foundation has mattered most.“Family comes first,” said Leong, who has twin teenagers. “Take care of the ones you love. Check in with your family whenever you can. Family relationships are bound by blood. Thanks to my retired parents and a helpful husband, we tough it through.”She reemphasized the importance of mutually beneficial relationships, noting “A rising tide will lift all boats.”Fostering Talent for the Industry’s FutureDeveloping young talent and future leaders in microelectronics stands as a persistent and growing need – and a critical challenge to realizing expected growth. Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and augmented/virtual reality are expected to impact a huge range of markets, leading to projections that the semiconductor industry will double in size in the next 10 to 15 years.The opportunities for growth and technologies that promise to improve the quality of human life worldwide are breathtaking. The industry’s talent pool will need to scale accordingly, magnifying the importance of expanding industry-wide programs such as the Workforce Development and DEI initiatives that the SEMI Foundation are building. Learn more about how you and your company can get involved with these initiatives on the SEMI Foundation website.Shari Liss is executive director of the SEMI Foundation. She oversees SEMI Workforce Development programs from K-12 through re-skilling for veterans.

SEMI is excited to recognize Amy Leong, Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President, Mergers and Acquisitions at FormFactor, as the SEMI Spotlight on Women Honoree for Q1 2020!Spotlight on SEMI Women celebrates the many accomplished women who work in the global microelectronics industry. Nominees in the quarterly spotlight include women who are beacons of knowledge, leaders of organizations and initiatives, hidden heroes and innovators in our industry. They are volunteers, protectors, intellectual disruptors and activists. Learn how you can nominate a woman for Spotlight on SEMI Women.An accomplished technology executive, Amy Leong has been an invaluable leader and role model at FormFactor for over a decade. During her tenure at Formfactor, Amy has led numerous successful new‐technology adoption and customer‐penetration initiatives that have helped drive FormFactor’s market share and profitability gains. Recently, she assumed oversight of the company’s M A strategy and execution.Amy is on the advisory board of the China International Semiconductor Executive Summit (CISES) and is a committee member for both the Semiconductor Wafer Test Workshop (SWTW) and the SEMI Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) organizing group. Amy is an accomplished, engaging speaker and has presented at industry conferences and events. As a leader and role model, she shares her experiences and lessons as a successful technology executive, coaching peers and mentoring younger women to help overcome the challenges of building their careers in the semiconductor industry. Recently, Amy broadened these efforts by spearheading the formation of FormFactor’s b3.wn Women’s Network, a group of more than 120 FormFactor employees designed to gather and solidify the community of women at FormFactor.SEMI sat down with Amy to get some insights into her success.SEMI: Tell me about your background?Leong: I was born and raised in Tianjin, China and came to United States with my family when I was 16 years old. I always liked math and science growing up, which led me to pursue an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering at UC Berkeley and then enter the semiconductor industry. My work inspired me and, with the support of my employer, I earned my masters in Material Science and Engineering at Stanford University.SEMI: How did you get into the industry?Leong: At the time of my graduation, I had been considering several career paths and industries that were open to me because of my degree. Several of my peers had already joined the semiconductor industry and told me about the amazing technology they were helping to build. Once I entered the industry, the more I worked, the more fascinated I became with the fast pace of technology and innovation. Every year there were new opportunities to innovate that came with their own exciting challenges and problems to solve. I’ve now been in the industry for 22 years and I still love what I do.SEMI: Tell me about an accomplishment you are proud of?Leong: I have been at FormFactor twice now for cumulatively over 15 years. During my current tenure of about 10 years I have worked under Mike Slessor, our CEO. What I am most proud of is my commitment to professional growth by taking on new challenges. During my time at FormFactor I have jumped on opportunities to help solve challenges in different areas of the organization. Because I pushed myself into these new challenges and experiences, I have become a versatile leader with expertise in multiple areas within the business. I remember I started in product marketing, but when a sales account manager left a need in the business, I stepped in to help the customer and found my hidden talent of customer engagement and relationship building. When we urgently needed a new supplier for product development, I drove the supplier qualification and ramp up, and learned many aspects in operations. Of course without Mike allowing and encouraging me to stretch my skills in different directions, I would not be who I am today.SEMI: Is this strategy how you ended up in the M A space for FormFactor?Leong: My role now happened through a combination of organic and planned career opportunities. M A is a key component of the FormFactor growth strategy. When Mike needed help in the new space, I was able to volunteer, and relied on the knowledge and support of our board members and our executive team in order to meaningfully contribute to our M A strategies and executionMy mentality is to always get out of my own comfort zones. If you try and fail, so what? You learn, and you improve from your setbacks. But unless you try you will never know.SEMI: You have done so much for women in the industry and at FormFactor. What drives you to do this work?Leong: There are two primary driving moments in recent years that pushed me to step up.When Ajit Manocha joined SEMI, he started raising awareness of the importance of female leaders in tackling the industry’s challenges. While I had industry visibility, I wasn’t aware that the number of women in technology shrinks alarmingly the higher up the chain of command you look. My optimistic view is that we have a nearly balanced talent pipeline at the entry-levels, and there is great opportunity for the industry to take action and change the disheartening decline in female representation by mid-career.The second moment was a personal experience. In 2015, Formfactor hired our first woman board of director Kelley Steven-Waiss. (We now have three women board members.) Having Kelley on the board and leaning on her experience when I needed guidance showed me the power of having a mentor and a role model. Having somebody there as a sounding board was extremely helpful, and this triggered me to learn more about women leadership in technology and led me to want to do more for other women who were earlier in their career.SEMI’s influence was one of the major turning points in our industry and created a clarity that was not present by putting data in front of leaders for a powerful impact.SEMI: Tell be about the process of building the network of women at FormFactor?Leong: FormFactor’s women network grew mostly through a grassroots approach. A year ago, during a QBR (Quarterly Business Review) week, I had an opportunity to get together with a group of FormFactor female sales leaders. We had a wonderful evening together, shared our experiences and learned from each other. Our conversation left an impression on us, and we decided to start a women’s networking group at FormFactor so that more women can join the conversation. We named it b3.wn – Beautiful (be confident in ourselves and kind to others) Brilliant (make smart decisions) Bold (be fearless) Women Network. These three B words are the empowering characteristics of modern women to achieve our highest happiness potential at work, home and society. We had a modest goal for the group: Provide an informal venue for employees to engage, support and learn from each other. Little did we anticipate how quickly it would gather steam. Before long, we took the initiative on the road and hosted several events at our California and Oregon sites, featuring themes that ranged from women leadership panel discussion, to FormFactor executive chats on strategies to improve work and life balance and master effective business communications. One year later we now have over 120 members.This year we are going to expand the program into Asia and Germany as well! Global expansion is an exciting step and we are getting strong support from global sites. I think people are seeing the benefits of knowing there are colleagues or friends out there that share the same sets of work life challenges and you can seek support and help from each other.We need to be the change we want to see. I hope more of us can help support women in tech and create a more inclusive work environment at your company.SEMI: What advice would you give to people looking to grow their careers?Leong: Fearlessly step out of your comfort zone. When you are far outside your element, you can discover the new skills and strengths that you didn’t know existed before. It’s a super fun adventure, but you need to expect and embrace the failures that may come along the way, learn from them, and keep going. By continuously pushing the boundaries of our comfort zone, we can expand our horizon beyond what we once thought was possible.Cristina Sandoval is manager of Workforce Development at SEMI.

New SEMI Taiwan Testing Committee to strengthen the last line of defense to ensure the reliability of advanced semiconductor applications.Mobile, high-performance computing (HPC), automotive, and IoT – the four future growth drivers of semiconductor industry, plus the additional boost from artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G – will spur exponential demand for multi-function and high-performance chips. Today, a 3D IC semiconductor structure is beginning to integrate multiple chips to extend functionality and performance, making heterogeneous integration an irreversible trend. As the number of chips integrated in a single package increases, the structural complexity also rises. Not only will this make identifying chip defects harder, but the compatibility and interconnection between components will also introduce uncertainties that can undermine the reliability of the final ICs. Add to these challenges the need for tight cost control and a faster time to market, and it’s clear that semiconductor testing requires disruptive, innovative change. Traditional final-product testing focusing on finished components is now giving way to wafer- and system-level testing.In addition, the traditional notion of design for testing, an approach that enhances testing controllability and observability, is now coupled with the imperative to test for design, which emphasizes drawing analytics insights from collected test data to help reduce design errors and shorten development cycles. Going forward, the relationship among design, manufacturing, packaging, and testing will no longer be un-directional. Instead, it will be a cycle of continuous improvement.This paradigm shift in semiconductor testing, however, will also create a need for new industry standards and regulations, elevate visibility and security levels for shared data, require the optimization of testing time and costs, and lead to a shortage of testing professionals. Solving all these issues will require a joint effort by the industry and academia. "With leading technologies and $4.7 billion in market value, Taiwan still holds the top spot in global semiconductor testing market," said Terry Tsao, President of SEMI Taiwan. "When testing extends beyond the manufacturing process, it can play a critical role in ensuring quality throughout the entire life cycle from design and manufacturing to system integration while maintaining effective controls on development costs and schedules. Taiwan's semiconductor industry is in dire need of a common testing platform to enable the cross-disciplinary collaboration necessary for technical breakthroughs."The SEMI Taiwan Testing Committee was formed to meet that need, gathering testing experts and academics from MediaTek, Intel, NXP Semiconductors, TSMC, UMC, ASE Technology, SPIL, KYEC, Teradyne, Advantest, FormFactor, MJC, Synopsys, Cadence, Mentor, and National Tsing Hua University to collaborate in building a complete testing ecosystem. The committee addresses common technical challenges faced by the industry and cultivates next-generation testing professionals to enable Taiwan to maintain its global leadership in semiconductor testing.The SEMI Taiwan Testing Platform spans communities, expositions, programs, events, networking, business matching, advocacy, and market and technology insights. For more information about the SEMI Taiwan Testing platform, please contact Elaine Lee ([email protected]) or Ana Li ([email protected]). Emmy Yi is a marketing specialist at SEMI Taiwan.