Dr. Kyle Blakeney, Lam Research, ISU alumnus

Host: Dr. Vela

Chemistry is central to the progress of the semiconductor industry as feature sizes continue to shrink and complexity of surfaces and materials continues to rise. Introduction of new commercial Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) and Atomic Layer Etch (ALE) processes requires mechanistic understanding of not only the deposition or etch process itself, but also interactions with many surfaces of interest, from the chemical delivery system, the chamber materials, and all the various exposed surfaces on the wafer. Deeper chemical understanding invariably leads to more unique, robust, world-class processes for advanced semiconductors. The seminar will discuss these chemistry needs in the semiconductor industry from the perspective of a chemist and process engineer at a large wafer fabrication equipment supplier.

Kyle Blakeney is a native Iowan who graduated with a B.S. in Chemistry from Iowa State University in 2013, during which he was an undergraduate researcher for Prof. Javier Vela. He completed his Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry in 2018 at Wayne State University in the lab of Prof. Charles Winter. He subsequently joined Lam Research in Fremont, California and is currently a Senior Process Engineer in the ALD Metals Concept and Feasibility group.