The production of electronic components, electrical components, electronic and electrical devices is a huge portion of American industry.  Every item that is produced uses electricity to produce it.  Every plant that manufactures or assembles parts, subassemblies or finished products uses electricity and electronics to control everything from the machinery to the air environment where the workers perform their work. 

Presently, the Lawton, Oklahoma community is trying to find a manufacturer of electronic components we call silicon-based chips who is seeking a location to construct a new plant, hire workers and process electronic components.  Perhaps, soon, we will be training technicians and technologists to work in the clean rooms of the chip manufacturing industry. 

Electronic chips belong to one of two families: BJT or FET.  BJT chips are based upon the electronics of bi-polar junction transistors.  They are more heat resistant than FET chips but are not as compact.  In other words, the manufacturer needs more BJT chips to do the same job as a FET chip.  FET chips are Field Effect Transistors.  For a long time the FET industry did not keep up with the BJT industry but a breakthrough occurred and the market grew substantially.  Originally the FET was called an Insulated Gate Field Effect Transistor or IGFET.  When we discovered we could grow Negative or Positive Insulated Gate Field Effect Transistors we had to change the name.  Our society would not accept NIGFET or PIGFET.  Along came Complementary Insulated Gate Field Effect Transistors -- CIGFET -- and the names were changed.  But what to? 

The Insulated Gate that separated the current flowing area from the controlling gate signal is made of metal oxide.  Positive Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors became PMOSFET, Negative were called NMOSFET and Complementary (where we grew positive and negative back-to-back) were called CMOSFET. 

We dropped the term FET and now we usually just call the devices CMOS.  They have a problem.  They are substantially more sensitive to static electricity and, for that reason, are shipped in a conductive foam so that no difference of voltage potential can exist between their leads as they are transported to a destination. 

Many "shade tree" electronics folk have destroyed a CMOS chip by removing it from its shipping foam and touching the leads with two different fingers.  The static electricity that exists between your fingers is sufficient to destroy the CMOS chip located inside the plastic package the leads stick out of for making electronic connections. 

If you would like to find out more about BJT and MOS electronics, please telephone me at my office at Texas A&M University - Kingsville.  In our BS Degree in Technology you will learn both the technology of industry and the management of technicians.