For Ep. 27, Dr. Rob Clark from Tokyo Electron joins to discuss his rise from an equipment know-nothing to ALD process engineer extraordinaire. Rob, the self-proclaimed Manipulator of Matter, is a Senior MTS and Technology Director at TEL where he leads process and integration of thin film deposition methods for next-generation semiconductor devices.  

Recorded live at ALD ALE 2023 in Washington, Rob and Tyler discuss how he first learned ALD on CVD equipment, the early days of high-k ALD process development, and his work in making some of the first hafnium precursors for ALD integration in semicon at Schumacher. They also talk about his time as the only engineer at NanoFab North in Albany, how incredibly advanced semiconductor technology has become, and what the next decade of ALD research might look like. 

In this episode: 

00:00 Introduction  

01:58 Post-grad at Schumacher 

13:23 Learning the ALD ropes 

19:16 Early HfO2 process development 

23:40 Albany, NY Semi ecosystem 

32:32 ALD process development insights 

42:24 How cool are semiconductors?!’ 

49:44 Rob’s ALD Outlook