CAROLE MONTAROU
When considering which university would be best suited to her interest in optics research, Carole Montarou recalls being particularly impressed with the work of Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Thomas Gaylord, whose research group "covered a lot of areas, from diffractive optics to nanotechnology."
After graduating from Tech with a Ph.D. in electrical engineering, Montarou headed to Portland, Oregon, to begin working with Intel as a defect reduction engineer in the yield group.
"The Portland Technology Development (PTD) of Intel is in charge of implementing the fabrication processes for each generation of microprocessors before it is ramped up for high-volume manufacturing," explains Montarou, who also completed her master's at Tech in 1999. "The yield group inspects the devices at different stages of the fabrication process to control their quality. As a defect reduction engineer, I will have to determine when the defects occur and work with the process engineers to optimize the fabrication process."
Montarou says the Intel position will allow her to gain a broad understanding of the techniques and challenges of the fabrication of semiconductor devices. In combination with her optics background, she is hoping to get a general perspective of these two areas. She believes this perspective will further prepare her to participate in the development of future technology based on semiconductor and photonic devices either in industry or academia.
"Intel is specifically looking for Ph.D.s for these kinds of positions," Montarou says. "I had previously worked on developing techniques to characterize optical fibers, and that may have helped in getting my resume out of the pile. Beyond that, a Ph.D. also demonstrates your problem-solving abilities and improves communication skills through conferences and journal papers. All of these skills are essential to solving engineering and scientific problems. It is important to be technically strong and meticulous, but it is as important to know how to communicate well with a team. Georgia Tech prepared me very well in all these areas."
