tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959064.post114892370537568218..comments2024-01-27T01:55:45.555-05:00Comments on Ghostweather R&D Blog: PeoplewareLynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07445794978319009719noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959064.post-1148957830430135482006-05-29T22:57:00.000-04:002006-05-29T22:57:00.000-04:00What an excellent story -- with a really awful end...What an excellent story -- with a really awful ending. Thanks, I guess :-)Lynnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07445794978319009719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7959064.post-1148950228811789092006-05-29T20:50:00.000-04:002006-05-29T20:50:00.000-04:00I did lithography research in my early years at Be...I did lithography research in my early years at Bell Labs. Our group was linked to IC manufacturing groups at AT&T Microelectronics at Allentown, Orlando and Madrid and we found ourselves spending serious time trying to solve real world issues.<BR/><BR/>The Allentown location had a curious fellow named Doug. He was everywhere, but no one could figure out exactly what he did. Knowledgeable and amazingly friendly, he would wander about talking to people all day. People called him "the mayor of Allentown" and no one could figure out how he justified his paycheck.<BR/><BR/>He was fun to watch. His office was full of interesting trinkets, wonderful homemade goodies and imported beer for after hours. <BR/><BR/>After a few years I became friendly with the plant manager and asked about Doug. "oh - he's the most important person here... He keeps the process in control and is probably responsible for 10 percent of the yield"<BR/><BR/>It turns out silicon processing is very much a black art - particularly when you are pushing the design rules when the process is new (the first 6 months or so). Everything is interrelated - often in non-trivial ways that elude the process models. It is possible for a human (or a small group) to understand a machine deeply (say a stepper - which might have a few PhDs attached to it), but the overall process is far too complex.<BR/><BR/>It is very easy to locally optimize the process and create a less than optimal total process (lots of metastable states in the phase space of the system)<BR/><BR/>Doug's place was to find where the process was wandering and to bring the right people together to solve the problem smoothly without ruffling feathers (many arrogant people who *know* their piece is the only true important piece of the process) and without damaging the process and product.<BR/><BR/>The plant manager gave Doug and imported beer and chocolate budget and free reign. It was clear he felt Doug was the most important person in the operation.<BR/><BR/>Doug lacked a college education. He had some electronics training and spent time on nuclear submarines in the Navy prior to Allentown. He never took credit for anything and was always flattering everyone "so and so is sooo smart - look what they did with this other group"<BR/><BR/>The plant manager retired and Doug was fired by the new manager.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com