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Career Details
17-2199.06 - Microsystems Engineers
17-2199.06 - Microsystems Engineers
Research, design, develop, or test microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices.
Key Facts

Bright Outlook
1
Career Details
Green Job
Career Details
Current Employment
136,900
Estimate
Forecasted Employment
142,300
Estimate
Change in Employment
+5,500
Estimate
Change in Employment %
+4%
Estimate
Tasks

Tasks
The tasks listed below can be performed to prepare you for a career in this field.
Core
- Plan or schedule engineering research or development projects involving microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology.
- Communicate operating characteristics or performance experience to other engineers or designers for training or new product development purposes.
- Create or maintain formal engineering documents, such as schematics, bills of materials, components or materials specifications, or packaging requirements.
- Propose product designs involving microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology, considering market data or customer requirements.
- Investigate characteristics such as cost, performance, or process capability of potential microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) device designs, using simulation or modeling software.
- Develop formal documentation for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices, including quality assurance guidance, quality control protocols, process control checklists, data collection, or reporting.
- Create schematics and physical layouts of integrated microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) components or packaged assemblies consistent with process, functional, or package constraints.
- Conduct analyses addressing issues such as failure, reliability, or yield improvement.
Generic
- Consider environmental issues when proposing product designs involving microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology.
- Design or develop energy products using nanomaterials or nanoprocesses, such as micro-nano machining.
- Design or develop industrial air quality microsystems, such as carbon dioxide fixing devices.
- Design or develop sensors to reduce the energy or resource requirements to operate appliances, such as washing machines or dishwashing machines.
- Design sensors or switches that require little or no power to operate for environmental monitoring or industrial metering applications.
- Research or develop emerging microelectromechanical (MEMS) systems to convert nontraditional energy sources into power, such as ambient energy harvesters that convert environmental vibrations into usable energy.
Supplemental
- Manage new product introduction projects to ensure effective deployment of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices or applications.
- Develop or implement microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) processing tools, fixtures, gages, dies, molds, or trays.
- Identify, procure, or develop test equipment, instrumentation, or facilities for characterization of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) applications.
- Develop customer documentation, such as performance specifications, training manuals, or operating instructions.
- Develop or file intellectual property and patent disclosure or application documents related to microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices, products, or systems.
- Demonstrate miniaturized systems that contain components, such as microsensors, microactuators, or integrated electronic circuits, fabricated on silicon or silicon carbide wafers.
- Conduct acceptance tests, vendor-qualification protocols, surveys, audits, corrective-action reviews, or performance monitoring of incoming materials or components to ensure conformance to specifications.
- Refine final microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) design to optimize design for target dimensions, physical tolerances, or processing constraints.
- Oversee operation of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) fabrication or assembly equipment, such as handling, singulation, assembly, wire-bonding, soldering, or package sealing.
- Evaluate materials, fabrication methods, joining methods, surface treatments, or packaging to ensure acceptable processing, performance, cost, sustainability, or availability.
- Devise microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) production methods, such as integrated circuit fabrication, lithographic electroform modeling, or micromachining.
- Develop or validate specialized materials characterization procedures, such as thermal withstand, fatigue, notch sensitivity, abrasion, or hardness tests.
- Develop or validate product-specific test protocols, acceptance thresholds, or inspection tools for quality control testing or performance measurement.
- Conduct or oversee the conduct of prototype development or microfabrication activities to ensure compliance to specifications and promote effective production processes.
- Conduct experimental or virtual studies to investigate characteristics and processing principles of potential microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology.
- Validate fabrication processes for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), using statistical process control implementation, virtual process simulations, data mining, or life testing.
- Conduct harsh environmental testing, accelerated aging, device characterization, or field trials to validate devices, using inspection tools, testing protocols, peripheral instrumentation, or modeling and simulation software.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Knowledge

Knowledge
The items listed below are organized into sections that contain knowledge useful for pursuing a career in this field. Each section also contains a "Percentage of Importance" statistic that shows how relevant an item is to the occupation.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Tools

Tools
The tools listed below include machines, equipment, tools, and software that is useful for individuals who are interested in this career.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Technology

Technology
The technologies listed below include machines, equipment, tools, and software that is useful for individuals who are interested in this career.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Certifications

Certifications
The certifications listed below are useful to pursue if you are interested in a career in this field.
No specific certifications are listed for this career
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Licensing

Licensing
The licensing information below is organized into sections and is useful for pursuing if you are interested in a career in this field.
No specific licensing information is listed for this occupation in the area you have selected.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Related Programs

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