Kurita Water Industries

Dan’s almost three decades of experience as a facilities engineering manager, process engineer, design engineer, construction project manager and tool hookup design in the advanced technologies and semiconductor manufacturing industry has led to innovative solutions in his work. His innovations have resulted in industry-changing quality and cost savings breakthroughs, including defect reduction and innovative water reclaim and re-use systems. Dan is well established in the semiconductor industry as an Ultra-pure Water, UHP Chemical and Wastewater expert as shown in his leadership of industry roadmap and collaboration teams. He is certified by ASQ as a six sigma black belt. His roles include Co-Chair of International Roadmap for Device and Systems (IRDS) Yield Enhancement (YE) team, Co-Chair UPW SEMI Standards team, and UP Micro Conference Strategy Team. In addition to many industry publications, Dan also holds a patent for Reduction of Charging Induced Damage in Photolithography Wet Process.

Samsung Austin Semiconductor

Dr. Sriram (Ram) Ramamoorthy is a Supply Chain R&D Engineer/Technologist in Intel’s Fab Materials Organization managing specialty chemicals and filtration. Prior to this role, Ram was a senior process technology development engineer in Intel R&D fab in Oregon developing front end wet etch processes. Ram is an active member in IRDS and SEMI task forces and standards team. Ram received his Ph.D in Chemical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY).

Intel

Victor Smith is an industrial research analyst at Global Water Intelligence. Since joining GWI in 2024 he has conducted research on the market for water treatment chemicals and the chemical manufacturing industry. He is now looking at water-related opportunities and spending in data centres. Victor holds a BA in History and Economics and an MA in History from the University of Manchester.

Dr. Altun is the co-founder and CEO of UNISERS AG, an ETH Zurich spinoff from Switzerland. UNISERS has been developing a wafer defect inspection and review tool with a sub-10nm detection limit. Dr. Altun has 15-year experience in nanotechnology and optical sensing. Prior to his position at UNISERS AG, he did a Ph.D. at ETH Zurich. He worked at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories (2011-2014) and Korean Institute of Machinery and Materials (2005-2010). He had his B.Sc. degree from METU (Middle East Tech. Univ.), Turkey and M.Sc. degree at KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology).

UNISERS

Microelectronics UPW Technical Director for Evoqua Water Technologies, LLC. Responsible for process development, optimization, troubleshooting and technical support of high purity water systems within the semiconductor, nanotechnology and solar markets. Also responsible for operating and maintaining an E-1.2 UPW system in the Evoqua Microelectronics Technology Suite. Has been with Evoqua (starting with IWT) for over 37 years in various roles responsible for developing, growing and supporting products and technologies within the Corporate and Industrial segments. These roles include; Product Manager, Process Development Manager and Applications Engineering Manager. Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering, with emphasis on high-energy physics, from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and located at the Evoqua office in Rockford, Illinois. Authored and co-authored several papers on topics including nanofiltration, reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration, advanced oxidation and particle removal for the semiconductor industry.

Xylem

Dr. Rushikesh (Rushi) Matkar is the Pathfinding Technologist for Water purification at Intel’s R&D Center in Hillsboro, OR and a corporate owner for the leadership roadmap of Intel's water management group. Responsible for driving solutions towards the success of Intel's high volume manufacturing roadmap. He is passionate about high purity delivery of utilities, IOT and advanced manufacturing. Between Academia and Industry, Rushi has extensive experience in bringing new IP to Market. Recently, Rushi successfully led the program to introduce EUV Lithography as a patterning solution for fabrication at Globalfoundries. He has served multiple roles within the leading nodes in technology management, operations and engineering management to help multiple technology nodes meet mass-market benefits.

Ovivo

Project engineer for UPW optimization and conceptual design projects addressing capacity and performance for semiconductor clients. Former UPW system owner at a large semiconductor fabricator.

FTD Solutions

Bernie Zerfas is a former facilities engineer at GLOBALFOUNDRIES. He has more than 30 years’ experience in the semiconductor industry with a primary focus on UPW and deionized water systems. Although his initial formal training was in chemistry and chemical engineering, he has had a wide variety of formal and informal educational experiences in a variety of technical disciplines. Mr. Zerfas is also an active member of the UPW sub-group of the ITRS; a recent area of focus has been organic and particulate contamination. His current other areas of responsibility include a spectrum of pollution control systems.

Deena Starkel has B.S. in Environmental Science and M.S. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Idaho. She is a licensed Professional Environmental Engineer with 22+ years of experience in the semiconductor industry as a Facilities Chemical and Water Engineer for Micron Technology. Deena is currently working as a Member of Technical Staff Principal Water Engineer for Micron’s R&D facility and corporate headquarters in Boise, ID and is focused on UPW and wastewater treatment design, process engineering, and operations. Deena has been a member of the UPW IRDS and other groups since 2018.

Micron

With a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and graduate coursework in Optical and Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Colorado, Steve brings over three decades of experience developing and applying advanced particle monitoring and contamination control technologies across semiconductor, aerospace, and defense sectors.


 (Random Hill Publishers, 2005), authoring Chapter 42: 

Particle Monitoring in Semiconductor Manufacturing

 (2nd ed. 2002; 3rd ed. 2015) and has written more than 100 technical papers and application notes.


His technical expertise has supported cleanroom monitoring programs for the Space Shuttle, James Webb Space Telescope, U.S. Air Force, and SpaceX Dragon Crew Module. He has also lectured at leading institutions including SUNY Albany, National Taiwan University, UCLA, University of Texas, and the University of Colorado, covering topics in particle physics and mechanics.


Today, as Global Product Manager at TSI, he continues driving innovation, shaping product strategy, and helping TSI lead the field in precision environmental monitoring and contamination control.

TSI Incorporated

Adam has been with Nalco Water for over 25 years delivering collaborative solutions to water related challenges. As part of the Global High Tech business unit, he works directly with microelectronics clients to maximize reliability, minimize total cost of operation, and support water circularity. Adam has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Montana State University - Bozeman.

Ecolab

Latif joined Intel in 2005 as Microcontamination Engineer for the startup of 45nm process at Fab-32 in Arizona. He has been involved in four more process transfers to Arizona, including the latest 10nm startup. He is technical expert in Microcontamination, including AMC’s, with over 25 years of experience in environmental, semiconductor testing, AMC’s and other Microcontamination problem solving. Prior to joining Intel, Latif worked as a Research Scientist at Balazs Analytical and as a Technical Support Manager at ChemTrace. Latif has participated in collaborative efforts with many chemical and equipment manufacturing companies and organizations including, Sematech, Factory Mutual Research Corporation, in development of criteria for approval of materials suitable for use in semiconductor fabs.

Alex Miller

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