Patrick Wester
Salt Lake City,UT
Summary
Process Engineering | ANOVA SPC Control |CpK| Root Cause Analysis | Designs of Experiments (DOE) |Research and Development | Thermal/Film Process Engineering | Cost Reduction | Project Management | Technology Transfer | Process Yield and Output Optimization | Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) | Vendor Partnership| Semiconductor| Process Variation & Control
Analytical chemical engineering focused on applying sound engineering principles using both traditional and innovative methods.
Overview
14
14
years of professional experience
Work History
Advanced Technology Treatment/Oxidation Process Senior Engineer (E4)
Texas Instruments
10.2021 - Current
- Process development for startup R&D equipment and process, project management of technology transfer and process maturity, process improved innovation, and cost reduction work for 28nm,45nm, and 65nm semiconductor technologies
- Led 45nm and 28nm startup/transfer activities for single wafer rapid thermal, oxidation, and other treatment processes with technology transfer project management over HVM and R&D engineering team- coordinated meetings between R&D and HVM, scoped out project deliverables and timeline execution,and executed from technology transfer to pilot line start-up in HVM fab
- Characterized treatment and oxidation processes from start up to achieve yield goals, CpK target and process stability, and high volume manufacturing readiness
- Department lead for technology startup/transfer project management lead
- Led introduction of new tool sets at Lehi fab (Vulcan RTP, Veeco laser spike anneal) to activate LFAB pilot line of 28nm product and characterized processes to achieve inline/yield targets
- Department mentor for 2024 summer intern, where I helped teach DOE analysis of experiments, further process characterization of Vulcan RTP tool/process to create optimized recipe that limited thermal exposure of the wafer to high temperatures that leads to yield gains
Advanced Technology Treatment/Oxidation Process Senior Engineer (E4)
Micron Technology
03.2020 - 10.2021
- Responsible for Diffusion/PVD (physical vapor deposition) process development, improvement, and process stabilization to support the launch of a critical new memory product- 3DXP
- Project Management lead: Schedule, milestones, and status reporting for team. Held team members accountable to project execution and timeliness through various project management programs and meetings
- Process optimization through Design of Experiments (DOEs), implementation of Statistical Process Control (SPC) and corrective action for newly developed process I created to meet yield needs
- Vendor technical interface and collaboration through continuous improvement projects
- Focused on thin films engineering involving PVD and UV and plasma treatment processes for yield enablement of 3DXP memory
Time to Mature Cumulative Yield (TTMCY) Thin Films Engineer (E3/E4)
IM Flash Technology/Micron Technology
12.2017 - 03.2020
- Improve and stabilize processes to achieve quality and production goals:
- Focused on PALD (plasma atomic layer deposition), LPCVD (low pressure chemical vapor deposition), and UV and plasma treatment processes.
- Focused on yield driven improvements to hit time to mature cumulative yield projects. This involves limiting inline variation that is direct cause to yield fallout on new 3DxP memory product that was developed to rival NAND and DRAM memory.
- Ran advanced design of experiments on a first of a kind process tool and running characterization tests that eventually saved the fab over $20M in cost savings upon qualification of new processes on evaluation tool.
- Worked with vendors to optimize current processes/process tools for cost savings and yield gains to ensure 3DxP memory is cost effective and has maximized yield to make new memory product profitable upon new entry to memory market.
- Worked with vendors through Continuous Improvement Projects (CIPs) that involved working with on vendor-site projects to test process transparency and ROI.
- Nominated to LEAD program to gain project management and people management skills to ensure affective leadership and development skills incorporated into daily engineering tasks.
Diffusion Manufacturing Transfer Engineer (E3)
IM Flash Technology
11.2015 - 12.2017
- Project management of technology transfer from R&D to high volume manufacturing site:
- Worked with engineering management and integration management to establish scope of work for technology transfer, key date planning for specific project milestones, team lead on project status/milestone updates to key upper management (CEO, director, and senior manager level) and project lead on project conception, initiation and timeliness of completion.
- Worked within IMFT Diffusion department, IMFT Process and Integration, and Boise Fab 4 Micron R&D to transfer process technologies for new product part types to a high volume fab (IMFT)
- Work closely with R&D to develop and improve process manufacturability for high volume manufacturing. Involved communicating cost/process/yield/hardware gaps between R&D and IMFT and closing those gaps (output/cap-ex/etc) in time to avoid output/yield issues during product ramp at IMFT.
- Closed R&D to HVM gaps that saved over $40M in capital expenditure avoidance.
Diffusion (Thin Films) Manufacturing Process Owner (E2/E3)
IM Flash Technology
12.2013 - 11.2015
- Supported a notoriously hard to control (production output, SPC, and yield) process to meet production goals.
- Improved this process to world class performance levels:
- Advanced a world class SPC driven Silicon Nitride LPCVD furnace process for the development and manufacturing of NAND memory. Continually made process improvements on product and equipment to increase quality, reduce cost, augment reliability, maximize yield, and amplify productivity.
- Ran designs of experiments (DOEs) to characterize new processes for increased statistical process control (SPC) to attain CpK of greater than 1.33.
- Yield savings from new conversions I owned amounted to over 1.5 die per wafer gain at an 18k wafer output per week.
- Increased workstation manufacturing availability over 10% to hit output related metrics.
- Was awarded IM Flash Impact Award for projects related to yield and output gains on the Silicon Nitride workstation (over $20M in savings for yield/output gains).
Diffusion Shift Manufacturing Engineer (E1/E2)
IM Flash Technology (IMFT)
06.2011 - 12.2013
- Worked shift engineering to maintain SPC and process control for processes to maintain current yields and excursion prevention.
- Worked with the process development teams to incorporate and optimize Diffusion reactions into overall process flows. Improved and maintained company best known methodologies and drove shift cost savings projects.
Education
Chemical and Biological Engineering - Biomedical Engineering Certificate
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO05.2011
Skills
- Process Engineering
- ANOVA SPC Control
- CpK
- Root Cause Analysis
- Designs of Experiments (DOE)
- Research and Development
- Thermal/Film Process Engineering
- Cost Reduction
- Project Management
- Technology Transfer
- Process Yield and Output Optimization
- Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)
- Vendor Partnership
- Semiconductor
- Process Variation & Control
Timeline
Advanced Technology Treatment/Oxidation Process Senior Engineer (E4)
Texas Instruments
10.2021 - Current
Advanced Technology Treatment/Oxidation Process Senior Engineer (E4)
Micron Technology
03.2020 - 10.2021
Time to Mature Cumulative Yield (TTMCY) Thin Films Engineer (E3/E4)
IM Flash Technology/Micron Technology
12.2017 - 03.2020
Diffusion Manufacturing Transfer Engineer (E3)
IM Flash Technology
11.2015 - 12.2017
Diffusion (Thin Films) Manufacturing Process Owner (E2/E3)
IM Flash Technology
12.2013 - 11.2015
Diffusion Shift Manufacturing Engineer (E1/E2)
IM Flash Technology (IMFT)
06.2011 - 12.2013
Chemical and Biological Engineering - Biomedical Engineering Certificate
Colorado State University
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