Expert Details
Materials R&D/Product Development, Gold Alloys, Electronics Packaging & Assembly, Polymer Science
ID: 724698
Singapore
Expert led an R&D and product development group in the development of gold micro-alloys for wirebonded interconnections in electronics packages. He has extensive knowledge of micro-alloy design, the effects of dopants on the electronic structure, mechanical and electrical properties of gold wires and processing of gold wires. He was the industrial supervisor of a PhD and an MS student research project on the effects of dopants on the properties of Au wires and guided the students in solid state chemistry and physics, experimental design, statistically designed experiments and interpretation of data.
Expert has performed applied R&D on Au – Al compounds formed between gold wires micro-alloyed with various dopants and Al alloy bondpad metallization used on the bondpads of semiconductor chips. He has co-authored several research papers on the subject of Au- Al intermetallics in gold ballbonds and is an expert in this area, especially on intermetallic growth and reliability, oxidation and the effects of wire dopants on intermetallic growth.
Expert managed a worldwide center for wire materials development for a major semiconductor materials and equipment company. He led product development and ensured corporate exposure through presentations and publications. He also coordinated brainstorming sessions to generate new product ideas, developing strategies to ensure successful development. Expert was responsible for forming partnerships with commercial partners, universities and external research centers to test and analyze new products and initiated patent process wherever feasible. He oversaw development of 4 new products in 4 years, increasing company market share from 10% to 15%. He also recommended and implemented product development over wider chemical composition ranges, leading to development of 2 new products, one of which was one of the company’s most successful. Expert established a joint R&D program on transfer molding with a U.S.-based molding compound manufacturer to support new product development and a long-range R&D pipeline and created university partnerships to allow internal continuing education and mentor young researchers. He also reorganized R&D lab to cope with high demands for product, process and field applications focusing on staff advanced skill sets and changed to project based R&D/product development with strong emphasis applied science and statistical design of experiments for R&D, product and process development projects.
Expert also worked at a research institute and was charged with developing potential contract R&D projects with industry customers and local universities focused on macro-electronics, RFID and other disciplines. He authored proposals, coordinated projects with sponsors and executed projects and partnered with internal personnel to develop consortium programs for local industry. Specific examples include Formulation of Inks for Inkjet Processing Applications in Flexible Electronics and Applications of Inkjet and Nano-Imprint Lithography in Flexible Electronics. He also initiated a 2-year plan to create a virtual center of excellence for micro-patterning by bringing together various research groups under 1 organization. In addition he implemented scientific approach to experiment design instead of previously used trial and error. Expert also participated in multiple team projects such as flip chip/ball grid array reliability analysis and exploration of lead-free solder performance and characterization.
Expert has extensive experience in characterization of materials using a variety of different methods. He has expertise on experimental thermal analysis including standard and modulated differential scanning calorimetry (DSC/MDSC), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA, thermo-gravimetry (TGA) and thermo-mechanical analysis (TMA). Expert is also well versed with infra-red and ultra-violet spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy. In addition, he has used other techniques such as tensile testing and fracture testing. He has used these analytical techniques for the failure analysis and characterization of metals, alloys and polymers.
Expert's experience in polymer science and physics began with his PhD, which was sponsored by the Defense Research Agency, UK, on the subject of formulation of thermoplastic modified epoxy resins and the physiochemical changes to the materials during elevated temperature ageing. He gained extensive experience in physical/organic chemistry as well as general polymer physics, the structure and properties of thermoplastic and cross-linked polymers and polymer blends and characterization methods including ultra-violet and infra-red spectroscopy, dynamic mechanical thermal analysis, calorimetry and thermo-gravimetry, mechanical testing (tensile and fracture) and scanning electron microscopy. After completion of his PhD he moved to the Polymer and Colloids Group of the Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, where he was sponsored by ICI to investigate experimental interdiffusion and welding processes between like and dissimilar polymers, guided by the reptation theories of deGennes and Doi and Edwards.
He also built apparatus for the measurement of bi-material fracture properties of dissimilar polymer interfaces and observed the fracture of bi-material polymer interfaces in an environmental SEM. During this time Expert also collaborated with a PhD student on thermo-physical ageing of carbohydrate materials. Expert subsequently gained further experience in polymer science while working in Singapore at Gintic Institute of Manufacturing Technology on collaborative projects with Nanyang Technological University on injection molding of short fiber reinforced liquid crystal polymers, properties of and thermal ageing response of injection molded poly(phenylenesulphide). He also used modulated differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic mechanical analysis to characterize poly(diacetylene) polymers.
Expert has characterized the properties of thermally sprayed poly(ether-ether ketone) polymers applied as wear resistant coatings to metal components for an industry customer. Further characterization and analysis was performed during internal R&D and contract R&D projects that studied the use of electrically conductive adhesives (both isotropic and anisotropic materials). Expert also led an internal R&D project on plastics laser welding processes using Nd:YAG and CO2 lasers, conducting experiments and contributing to the understanding of plastics welding with lasers by experimental analysis of absorption behavior of different colored plastics, measurement of plastics optical characteristics and using heat transfer modeling. He co-developed a laser welding process to join a plastic lens window to a plastic housing for a European customer.
He has consulted on selection of materials for the development of industrial fuses that rely on high resistivity intermetallic growth for the fuse actionHe has consulted for company making equipment for straightening leads on electronics packages specifically with regard to internal damage to the device caused by mechanical handling
Education
Year | Degree | Subject | Institution |
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Year: 1992 | Degree: PhD | Subject: Materials Physics/Physical Chemistry | Institution: Brunel University, London |
Year: 1988 | Degree: BSc(Hons) | Subject: Materials Science | Institution: Brunel University, London |
Work History
Years | Employer | Title | Department |
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Years: 2006 to Present | Employer: Undisclosed | Title: Director | Department: |
Responsibilities:Oversee deployment of service engineers and managers to repair equipment and coordinate with sales and marketing to develop schedules for installation in various countries. Extensively travel to customer sites to improve customer perceptions and promote company capabilities. Schedule equipment demonstrations and collect data for R&D, engineering and marketing. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 2006 to 2006 | Employer: SIMTech Institute of Manufacturing Technology, Singapore | Title: | Department: Microjoining & Substrates |
Responsibilities:Charged with developing potential contract R&D projects with industry customers and local universities focused on macro-electronics, RFID and other disciplines. Authored proposals, coordinated projects with sponsors and executed projects. Partnered with internal personnel to develop consortium programs for local industry. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 2002 to 2005 | Employer: | Title: Director of R&D | Department: |
Responsibilities:Managed Worldwide Center for Wire Materials Development, overseeing $1.5 million R&D budget and 20-person staff. Led product development and ensured corporate exposure through presentations and publications. Coordinated brainstorming sessions to generate new product ideas, developing strategies to ensure successful development. Formed partnerships with commercial partners, universities and external research centers to test and analyze new products. Initiated patent process where possible. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 2000 to 2002 | Employer: | Title: Project & Development Manager | Department: |
Responsibilities:Led 4-person engineering staff and multi-disciplinary teams for introduction of new products, reviewing product specifications and schematics, managing manufacturing process design, obtaining necessary consumables and clarifying technical requirements with clients. Developed new-product process reports and conducted technical training seminars for in-house staff. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1994 to 1999 | Employer: | Title: Research Fellow | Department: |
Responsibilities:Liaised with potential contract R&D project sponsors to plan and develop projects, authoring proposals, creating scopes of work and leading projects. Initiated and led internal projects and developed industry relationships to promote contract services. Assisted with group road mapping and identification of key technologies or personnel necessary for projects success. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1992 to 1994 | Employer: University of Cambridge | Title: | Department: Physics Department, Polymer & Colloids Group |
Responsibilities:He investigated polymer interdiffusion at elevated and ambient temperatures to better understand welding process with dissimilar polymers for application in mass production of multilayer films. Organized and presented at international conferences. Interpreted experimental results and reported progress to sponsor. |
Career Accomplishments
Associations / Societies |
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Professional Member of the Institute of Physics (UK) Member of the Materials Research Society (US) Member of IEEE (US) Member of Optical Society of America |
Licenses / Certifications |
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Chartered Physicist (CPhys) Chartered Scientists (CSci, licensed by The Science Council UK) |
Awards / Recognition |
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Best paper award at Semicon Singapore Technical Symposium |
Publications and Patents Summary |
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He has 23 journal publications and 22 conference publications |
Additional Experience
Training / Seminars |
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Thermal Analysis for Industry (Delivered to Industry in Singapore) Intermetallics Growth & Ballbond Reliability. Training course on non-destructive testing of electronics packages (focused on scanning acoustic microscopy and x-ray methods). |
Other Relevant Experience |
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R&D Strategic Planning, Developing Research Strategies, Product Development, Research Setup, R&D Turnarounds, Data Analysis & DOE, Process Development, Strategic Alliances, Budgeting, Product Lifecycle Management, Motivation, Customer Interaction, Applied Technical Writing and Presentations |
Fields of Expertise
corporate strategic planning, research and development planning, gold alloy, gold compound, new product development management, research and development, research and development collaboration, physiochemical property, polymer science, polymer physics, quantitative structure-property relationship, semiconductor wafer inspection, resin chemistry, polymer aging, electronic packaging industry, semiconductor device package, nonferrous alloy, product reliability improvement, microelectronic packaging, product formulation, plastic material property, plastic chemical property, plastic physical property, electronic packaging, metal alloy research management, material product development, semiconductor assembly engineering, new product development, molecular structure, polymer property, chemical kinetics, nonferrous metal, thermochemistry, polymer structure, polymer physical chemistry