Mentoring

Each new FIRST-Lab user will get a mentor assigned who supports her/him with the start in the FIRST-Lab. The mentor will spend the first working days of her/his trainee together with her/him in the FIRST-Lab. The trainee will learn adequate behavior in a cleanroom environment. The mentor verifies that the trainee implements what she/he was taught by the mentor, in the introduction day and in the cleanliness seminars.

The mentor will help the trainee to efficiently organize herself/himself in the beginning, and to develop the first processes, taking safety, contamination and cleanliness requirements into account. The mentor will help the trainee to contact people with additional knowledge when needed (e.g. FOT, FIRST team, fellow group members, colleagues inside and outside FIRST, process experts, equipment responsible staff).

The mentor counter-signs the application form of the trainee for FIRST-Lab access. It is in the competence of the mentor to decide on the degree of independence of her/his trainee in the course of time; nevertheless she/he remains co-responsible for the trainee for six months.

1. Group Prof. Bolognesi:
   Giorgio Bonomo
   Filippo Ciabattini
   Akshay Mahadev Arabhavi
   Olivier Ostinelli 
   Chaudhary Rimjhim
   
2. Group Prof. Chu:
   Arianne Brooks
   
3. Group Prof. Degen:
   Chaoxin Ding
   
4. Group Prof. Ensslin:
   Markus Niese
   
5. Group Prof. Faist:
   Mattias Beck
   
6. Group Prof. Gambardella:
   Mingu Kang
   
7. Group Prof. Grange:
   Giovanni Finco
   
8. Group Prof. Home:
   Edgar Brucke
   
9. Group Prof. Imamoglu:
   Stefan Fält
   
10. Group Prof. Keller:
    Matthias Golling
11. Group Prof. Leuthold:
    Nadia Jimenez Olalla
    
12. Group Prof. Nelson:
    Andrea Veciano Picazo
    
13. Group Prof. Novotny:
    Shengyu Shan
    Yang Xu
    
14. Group Prof. Shih:
    Tommaso Marcato
    
15. Group Prof. Spolenak:
    Marcello Pozzi
    
16. Group Prof. Stocker:
    Ela Burmeister
17. Group Prof. Vörös:
    Tilman Schlotter
    
18. Group Prof. Wallraff:
    Dante Colao Zanuz
    
19. Group Prof. Wegscheider:
    Amina Solano Lopes Ribeiro
    
20. Group Prof. Yanik:
    Baran Yasar Tansel
    
21. Empa Dübendorf:
    Ivan Shorubalko

FIRST mentors are experienced FIRST-Lab users who demonstrated their understanding of a cleanroom compatible working behavior in the FIRST-Lab, a profound understanding of the safety and usage guidelines, and an active involvement in the support of the FIRST-Lab infrastructure. A FIRST-Lab mentor always acts as an example to the fellow users. FIRST-Lab mentors are appointed by the FOT.

Appointment procedure:

1. A FIRST-Lab user can be suggested to the as a mentor candidate.
2. The FOT discusses this suggestion and defines criteria for approval if there is a disagreement.
3. FOT member(s) meet with the mentor candidate, informs on and discusses the rights and duties with her/him on the basis of the “Pflichtenheft”, and asks questions about typical FIRST clean room procedures.
4. The FOT member(s) decide on approval and disapproval.

Every new FIRST user is required to have a Mentor that supervises him/her during the first 6 months of work in the FIRST and FIRST-CLA clean rooms. The duties of a Mentor are complementary to the duties of Equipment Responsible Staff. Preferably, Mentors are recruited from the group of the new user. It is in the competence of the FOT/COT to decide on the eligibility of an experienced FIRST user for mentorship.
Mentorship workload is counted as FMT staff contribution.

Non-FMT Professors with limited processing or clean room experience in their groups are requested to approach FMT Professors for support.

The Mentor is co-responsible for the proper clean room behavior of her/his trainee and should help her/him to define appropriate process flows to account for the interference of unit process steps, their competing influence on device performance and their influence on equipment performance. In order to reach this goal, the following items apply:

• The designated Mentor counter-signs the application of the new user for clean room access.

• The Mentor plans and discusses with her/his trainee the process plan and process flow. She/he helps the trainee to efficiently develop the first processes, taking safety, contamination and cleanliness requirements into account. The process plan, process flow, list of required materials and equipment will be submitted to the FOT/COT for approval, ideally well before participation in the FIRST seminars.

• The Mentor spends the first working days of her/his trainee together with her/him in the FIRST labs and teaches the trainee clean room adequate behavior in FIRST and FIRST-CLA (examples: cleanliness and work hygiene, tidying up after finished work, causing minimal laboratory pollution, supply and disposal of consumables, checking of working parameter of machines, a.s.o.).

• It is in the competence of the Mentor to decide on the degree of independence of her/his trainee in the course of time; nevertheless she/he remains co-responsible for the trainee as defined above.

• The Mentor is the contact person for her/his trainee in case of work related questions and problems. She/he encourages the trainee to ask him/her in case of any questions and problems.

• The Mentor helps her/his trainee to contact people with additional knowledge when needed (FIRST FOT, FIRST team, fellow group members, colleagues inside and outside FIRST, process experts, equipment responsible staff).

• The Mentor verifies that the trainee implements what she/he was taught by the mentor, in the introduction day and in the cleanliness seminars.