Membrion

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

After more than 20 years as water treatment engineer at Rousset plant (France), in charge of subcontractor team (2 engineers, 2 technicians), operating UPW plant and waste water plant, I'm water program manager, technical leader for Ultra Pure Water Water treatment for STMicroelectronics Front-End plants (France, Italy, Singapore) - Technical support (project and troubleshooting) - Quality and monitoring standardization - Water saving focus - Invest technical approval - UPW engineers team coordination Ultra pure water specialist.

STMicroelectronics

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.

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

Dave Buesser is the COO of FTD Solutions. He is a mechanical engineer from the University of Arizona, and he has spent his entire 27-year career driving advanced technology facilities forward. He began with a focus on semiconductor process piping design and proceeded to build likely the deepest experience in the industry on UPW distribution systems. He has led the design efforts for several UPW plants for greenfield semiconductor facilities and has also led many multi-discipline design teams on microelectronics facilities. Today, his focus is to bring world-class expertise coupled with unique tools to help solve the most pressing UPW and facilities challenges facing advanced industries.

FTD Solutions

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.

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

Gary Van Schooneveld is President of CT Associates, Inc. Gary has over 30 years of experience with high-purity fluid systems including chemical delivery and ultrapure water and the development and testing of their associated materials and components. He is the author or co-author of more than 45 technical papers and presentations. Gary is co-chair of the SEMI UPW Task Force and an active member of the IRDS UPW and IRDS Critical Components Task Forces. Gary as been a key contributor in the development and validation of SEMI specification for measuring filter retention below 15 nm (SEMI C79), particle shedding from critical components (SEMI F104) and extractables ion exchange resin rinse performance (SEMI C93). Gary has BS and MS degrees in Materials Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY) and an MBA from the University of Texas (Arlington, TX).

CT Associates

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.

Kevin Wolfe is an environmental engineer working within the Global Environmental department at Intel Corporation. He has been working at Intel for 21 years in many environmental health and safety capacities, and currently leads the PFAS working group internal to Intel, and helps to project manage the SIA Semiconductor PFAS Consortium that intends to work towards developing the technical information that will be required to effectively engage with PFAS regulatory restriction efforts.

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

Beau Farmer is the Chief Technical Officer at TSI Incorporated, a global leader in precision research, analytical, and measurement instrumentation headquartered in Shoreview, Minnesota. He leads TSI’s efforts to identify and develop emerging technologies through collaborations with universities, small businesses, and industry partners, as well as through strategic acquisitions. Under his leadership, these collaborations have produced new products and government-funded projects such as nanoparticle monitoring instrumentation, miniaturized water-based condensation particle counters, and nanoparticle–protein binding research. Beau earned his Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Cornell University in 1990 where his research focused on 

Defect Dynamics and Wear-Out in Ultra-Thin Dielectrics on Silicon

. Before joining TSI in 2003, he was a tenured physics professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), with joint appointments at Rutgers and Columbia Universities. He served as principal investigator on over $5 million in research funding, including NSF CAREER, EPA, and state-sponsored MEMS initiative awards. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE, has authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications and holds 16 U.S. patents.

Chris Kane

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