CHIPS and Science Act: Update

Details of Phase II of the CHIPS Act were released on June 23rd. Phase II focuses on specialized equipment integral to the manufacturing of semiconductors and subsystems that enable or are incorporated into the manufacturing equipment. Specific examples of semiconductor manufacturing equipment include but are not limited to: (1) deposition equipment, including Chemical Vapor Deposition, Physical Vapor Deposition, and Atomic Layer Deposition; (2) etching equipment (wet etch, dry etch); (3) lithography equipment (steppers, scanners, extreme ultraviolet); (4) wafer slicing equipment, wafer dicing equipment, and wire bonders; (5) inspection and measuring equipment, including scanning electron microscopes, atomic force microscopes, optical inspection systems, and wafer probes; (6) certain metrology and inspection systems; and (7) ion implantation and diffusion/oxidation furnaces.

There are three types of CHIPS Incentives: 

• Direct Funding: which provides funding to the applicant for eligible costs and can take the form of grants, cooperative agreements, or other transactions;  

• Loans: which are direct loans from the Federal government to the applicant for eligible costs; 

• Loan Guarantees: which are Federal guarantees of third-party loans to the applicant for eligible costs. 

To learn more visit: NIST CHIPS Notice

MCC Optics Adjuncts needed!

The Monroe Community College Optics program is growing, but they need your help!

There are so many students interested in the MCC Optics program, but they need adjuncts to help teach Conventional Optical Fabrication & Metrology in Fall 2023. If you know how to generate, block, grind and polish spherical and plano optics, can use hand metrology tools such as micrometers, calipers, drop gauges, and spherometers, can use a mono-chromatic test lamp and master lenses to test other lenses, and have an interest in teaching future optics technicians-- MCC has a job for you! Don't worry, you don't have to quit your day job, Monroe Community College #mccoptics is looking for adjunct faculty for the Fall 2023 semester (start date: 8/28/23).

MCC's Optics program is the oldest and most prestigious 2 year optics program in the country. Curriculum is written, the lab project is already laid out, all you need is the play book. If you are interested (or you know someone that may be interested) please contact Alexis Spilman Vogt, PhD ASAP -- they have another Fall semester with tremendous enrollment!

Hand down the knowledge that you have, get new students excited about optical fabrication and testing, teach them the art of the technician, hire students directly from the program! Your companies' next rock star employees could be in your class!