Clean rooms are production areas that must be kept free of any airborne matter, because the least bit of dust can damage a semiconductor. Bunny suits fit over clothing to prevent lint and other particles from contaminating semiconductor processing worksites. Operators , who make up the majority of the workers in clean rooms, start and monitor the sophisticated equipment that performs the various tasks during the many steps of the semiconductor production sequence. They spend a great deal of time at computer terminals, monitoring the equipment. They transfer wafer carriers from one development station to the next.
Operators are responsible for keeping the automated machinery at proper operating parameters.
Technicians account for a smaller percentage of the workers in clean rooms, but they trouble-shoot production problems and make equipment adjustments and repairs. They also take the lead in assuring quality control and in maintaining equipment. In order to prevent the need for repairs, technicians perform diagnostic analyses and run computations. For example, technicians may determine if a flaw in a chip is due to contamination and peculiar to that wafer, or if the flaw is inherent in the manufacturing process. The work pace in clean rooms is deliberately slow.