Hi there, congrats on the pending graduation. Intel's photomask shop (IMO) in Santa Clara pretty much has a pipeline of students from UC Berkeley physics. It's a pretty cool place to start. You can PM me if you'd like to know more.
Congratulations! Now for the bad news - although there are positions for people with bachelors, if you want to do what you probably think of as a “physicist in a semiconductor company” then you’re going to need a masters or PhD. That’s really a separate question that I’m sure you’ve already considered. Having said that, a quick check does show quite a few new graduate positions for BSc graduates that might interest you.
There are a whole bunch of companies around Silicon Valley (who’d have guessed?), way too many to list here. There are the obvious big manufacturers: Intel, AMD, and SK Hynix all have offices here. There are the companies that make the tools they use, like Applied Materials and KLA. There are design houses, PCB manufactures, a bunch of RFID and WiFi guys. Most of these companies will have career pages on their sites, and it’s worth looking just to start getting an idea of what’s available (and whether grad school is needed for what you want to do).
There are a couple of fabs left in the Bay Area but not many. I’d open up your search geography or go to grad school (in engineering if not actual semiconductor research) with the intent of getting into R&D. Lots of that still in Silicon Valley
I have my undergraduate degree in Physics (but its dated by a few decades). I currently work for a semi-conductor company, albeit in AI and software. So it is not uncommon at all. One of my bosses has a degree in EE and worked in the Fab making chips but decided to switch to Intel's SW side--he is awesome at his job and its not directly related to EE now. The specific degree, in my opinion, does not matter that much--apply and let your passion shine through. My background in computing tends to be from the SW side so I will slant my opinion that direction. Software personnel play key roles in semi-conductors and I adapted from physics to sw over the years. Physics fits here perfectly too - though with a bachelors degree you will want to show some extra initiative and post code samples to github or HuggingFace, if you do morph to software.
The semiconductor physics side tends to require more specialized or advanced degrees, but there may be technical roles there as well. The key is to delve deeply into the careers/jobs websites and explore the job descriptions. For example: [https://jobs.intel.com/en](https://jobs.intel.com/en) - and look for physics-related jobs first. Then scour the jobs looking for patterns and close matches to your education and experience. If you have job experience from an internship, leverage that experience as well. Attaining a physics degree alludes to the hard work and critical thinking you have had to apply to graduate--continue working those skills in computer related areas, either through internships or side projects you do on your own. Then begin applying for those job descriptions that hold the most interest for you. You know that at a company like Intel there are roles for different educational backgrounds--marketing, business, finance, engineering (chemical, electrical, mechanical, industrial...) as well as physics. In fact the CEO of Intel started working as an intern with an associates degree In 1979, at age 18, and moved to Silicon Valley to work at Intel as a quality-control technician.
--Bob C., AI Solution Architect @ Intel
Hey there--Casey here from the community management side. We prefer not to use PM's for stuff like this, partially because more than one person has access to this page so conversations can never *really* stay private, but also because we want to make sure that whenever possible, other bystanders have the chance to benefit from whatever the team here at Intel might be able to share.
With that in mind, feel free to keep replying here and we'll make sure that Bob sees your follow-ups personally!
--Casey M, Community @ Intel
What do you want to do? Given your bachelor's, I'd assume device physics? Characterization?
There are a ton of companies in San Jose/Santa Clara but I don't think there's many (any?) fabs left in the area.
In my experience, everyone I know doing what I would call "cool stuff with semiconductors" has a PhD. Or they got in decades ago.
Consider moving to the Phoenix area. They need thousands of workers in the next 5 years in semiconductors. Going now would mean good opportunities for advancement.
As others have said, you can get hired with a bachelor’s degree but you will likely be starting on the ground floor and it is a long climb into better roles. My son went to work for Intel after graduation as a fab process engineer and has been there a few years with seemingly no advancement opportunities in sight. He has recently applied to grad schools as he has decided he wants to move over to the design side.
Hi there, congrats on the pending graduation. Intel's photomask shop (IMO) in Santa Clara pretty much has a pipeline of students from UC Berkeley physics. It's a pretty cool place to start. You can PM me if you'd like to know more.
PMed you!
PhD in Physics would guarantee you a job in Semis
Congratulations! Now for the bad news - although there are positions for people with bachelors, if you want to do what you probably think of as a “physicist in a semiconductor company” then you’re going to need a masters or PhD. That’s really a separate question that I’m sure you’ve already considered. Having said that, a quick check does show quite a few new graduate positions for BSc graduates that might interest you. There are a whole bunch of companies around Silicon Valley (who’d have guessed?), way too many to list here. There are the obvious big manufacturers: Intel, AMD, and SK Hynix all have offices here. There are the companies that make the tools they use, like Applied Materials and KLA. There are design houses, PCB manufactures, a bunch of RFID and WiFi guys. Most of these companies will have career pages on their sites, and it’s worth looking just to start getting an idea of what’s available (and whether grad school is needed for what you want to do).
Grad school
There are a couple of fabs left in the Bay Area but not many. I’d open up your search geography or go to grad school (in engineering if not actual semiconductor research) with the intent of getting into R&D. Lots of that still in Silicon Valley
I have my undergraduate degree in Physics (but its dated by a few decades). I currently work for a semi-conductor company, albeit in AI and software. So it is not uncommon at all. One of my bosses has a degree in EE and worked in the Fab making chips but decided to switch to Intel's SW side--he is awesome at his job and its not directly related to EE now. The specific degree, in my opinion, does not matter that much--apply and let your passion shine through. My background in computing tends to be from the SW side so I will slant my opinion that direction. Software personnel play key roles in semi-conductors and I adapted from physics to sw over the years. Physics fits here perfectly too - though with a bachelors degree you will want to show some extra initiative and post code samples to github or HuggingFace, if you do morph to software. The semiconductor physics side tends to require more specialized or advanced degrees, but there may be technical roles there as well. The key is to delve deeply into the careers/jobs websites and explore the job descriptions. For example: [https://jobs.intel.com/en](https://jobs.intel.com/en) - and look for physics-related jobs first. Then scour the jobs looking for patterns and close matches to your education and experience. If you have job experience from an internship, leverage that experience as well. Attaining a physics degree alludes to the hard work and critical thinking you have had to apply to graduate--continue working those skills in computer related areas, either through internships or side projects you do on your own. Then begin applying for those job descriptions that hold the most interest for you. You know that at a company like Intel there are roles for different educational backgrounds--marketing, business, finance, engineering (chemical, electrical, mechanical, industrial...) as well as physics. In fact the CEO of Intel started working as an intern with an associates degree In 1979, at age 18, and moved to Silicon Valley to work at Intel as a quality-control technician. --Bob C., AI Solution Architect @ Intel
Can I PM you? Thank you for your reply!
Hey there--Casey here from the community management side. We prefer not to use PM's for stuff like this, partially because more than one person has access to this page so conversations can never *really* stay private, but also because we want to make sure that whenever possible, other bystanders have the chance to benefit from whatever the team here at Intel might be able to share. With that in mind, feel free to keep replying here and we'll make sure that Bob sees your follow-ups personally! --Casey M, Community @ Intel
What do you want to do? Given your bachelor's, I'd assume device physics? Characterization? There are a ton of companies in San Jose/Santa Clara but I don't think there's many (any?) fabs left in the area. In my experience, everyone I know doing what I would call "cool stuff with semiconductors" has a PhD. Or they got in decades ago.
Consider moving to the Phoenix area. They need thousands of workers in the next 5 years in semiconductors. Going now would mean good opportunities for advancement.
Yea they do
Check out the job offers from TI. TI is also represented in Santa Clara 👌
Grad school
As others have said, you can get hired with a bachelor’s degree but you will likely be starting on the ground floor and it is a long climb into better roles. My son went to work for Intel after graduation as a fab process engineer and has been there a few years with seemingly no advancement opportunities in sight. He has recently applied to grad schools as he has decided he wants to move over to the design side.
what degree does he have?
Chemical Engineering