Semiconductor Industry – Possibilities and Opportunities

Post date: Nov 30, 2009 10:01:39 AM

Ranjith NayarCIM–Automation ManAGERST Mictroelectronics, Singapore18 September 2007 :: 2 – 4 pmAbstract: The semiconductor industry has for long been a sunrise industry -- and continues to be so. No other industry has so completely changed our lives (or fuelled other industries like IT) as has semiconductors (or chips).It is simultaneously the backbone of the electronics industry, the IT industry, and the digitisation of the world. At a societal level, it is also attractive for societies that seek to maximise $ returns / unit land area and provide large scale employment in the high-skills area. ST Microelectronics is a case-in-point for this. ST is the world's 3rd largest semicon company. The Singapore plant generates $1 billion USD revenue per year and employs 5000 people in a land area the size of this college campus. Of these 5000 people, 3000 are engineers!The possibilities are as infinite. And the opportunities -- for the country, for the micro society, and for us as engineers -- are plentiful. It is indeed the kamadhenu of today's engineering world.

This talk will give an introduction to semiconductor physics, the complexity of the fascinating manufacturing process, the career opportunities, and the reason why this is a great time in the history of the world to be an engineer.

Biography: Ranjith Nayar did his B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from the NSS College of Engg, in 1987. He started his career in OEN Connectors, Cochin, and then worked as an Asst Director with the National Productivity Council, under the Ministry of Industries, Govt of India.

For the last 15 years, he has been with ST Microelectronics, the world's 3rd largest semiconductor manufacturer, in various capacities. Today, he is responsible for Computer Integrated Manufacturing & Manufacturing Applications of 5 factories for his Company, and operates out of Singapore.

The two major influences of his life, he says, are this College campus, and his father, Dr B.K. Nayar, (a Professor of Botany at Calicut University). His father taught him scientific curiosity and that "Science is everything". This college campus taught him that science is NOT everything - here he claims to have learnt culture, the value of synergy, the value of leadership, and yes, also a little bit of Engineering.

He has a masters in Industrial Engineering from India, and another masters in Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) from the Nanyang Technological University Singapore. But, first and foremost, he is an engineer from Palakkad. He says, "Palakkad made me what I am".