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KNI Distinguished Webinar & Alumni Panel with Lam Research CEO Tim Archer

Tuesday, October 13, 2020
4:00pm to 5:30pm
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Special KNI Distinguished Webinar & Alumni Panel with Lam Research President and CEO Tim Archer
  • Internal Event

Join the Kavli Nanoscience Institute for a very special KNI Distinguished Webinar with Lam Research President and CEO Tim Archer (B.S. Applied Physics, '89; Fleming). Tim will present a talk on his experience going from Caltech grad to president of a Fortune 500 company, and discuss how Lam is turning the challenges set forth by COVID into strategic solutions for society and the workplace.

His talk will be followed by a lively panel discussion with Caltech alumni who now work at Lam:

  • Erik Edelberg, Deposition Product Group, VP/GM (B.S. Chemical Engineering, '93; Fleming)
  • Kevin Gu, Office of the CTO, Process Engineer (B.S. Chemistry, '13; Avery)
  • John Parks, Customer Support Business Group, Dir of Engineering (B.S. Engineering, '94; Fleming)
  • Amanda Shing, Etch Product Group, Process Engineer (M.S. and Ph.D. Materials Science, '16)

This special event is open to Caltech students, faculty and staff.

**Registration is required. Click here to register.**

Talk Title: Rewrite the Rules of What's Possible for Your Career and Technology

Abstract

In this talk, Tim Archer, President and CEO of Lam Research, will discuss his journey from Caltech undergrad to CEO of a global Fortune 500 company. Lam Research is driving breakthroughs in semiconductor manufacturing technology that are vital to producing nearly every advanced chip in the world today. Tim will share key decisions that influenced the trajectory of his career and provide his views on what future skills will be needed to succeed in a dynamic and opportunity-rich technology industry. Also, with the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically increasing society's reliance on technology, innovative solutions for remote work productivity are needed. Tim will discuss how Lam teams around the world are leveraging capabilities such as AR/VR, big data-driven predictive analytics and computational model-based process simulation to keep its product and technology roadmap technology roadmap moving steadily forward.

Tim Archer is the president and chief executive officer of Lam Research, a global supplier of innovative wafer fabrication equipment and services to the semiconductor industry. Prior to becoming the company's CEO, Archer played a key role in leading the company through transformational growth as the president and chief operating officer.

Archer drives the strategic agenda for Lam Research by engaging with a broad set of stakeholders including customers, employees, suppliers, investors and government leaders. With more than three decades in the semiconductor industry, he has both deep technical expertise and broad leadership experience driving business and operational priorities at leading technology companies.

Archer serves as chairman of the board for the National GEM Consortium, a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to increasing the participation of underrepresented groups at the master's and doctoral levels in engineering and science.  Archer completed the Program for Management Development at the Harvard Graduate School of Business and earned a B.S. degree in applied physics from the California Institute of Technology.

Panelists' Bios

Erik Edelberg, Vice President and General Manager of the WETS Business Unit

Dr. Erik Edelberg is the Vice President and General Manager of the WETS business unit in Tualatin, Oregon. He joined the group in 2014 and manages all wet products in deposition and clean. Erik joined Lam in 2000 in Conductor Etch. In 2004, he moved into the Dielectric Etch Organization where he was Sr. Director of Memory accounts and Dielectric Etch C&F. In 2009, Erik moved to Corporate Business Development and Business Operations where he was the Regional Business Executive for North America and European accounts. In 2012, he moved to the Clean Product Group.

Prior to working at Lam, Erik was a Technical Member of Staff at Rockwell Science Center in the micro-optics and MEMS division. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a thesis on PECVD, plasma diagnostics and plasma modeling. He also holds degrees in Physics and Chemical Engineering from both Wesleyan University, and the California Institute of Technology.

John Parks, Managing Director of Engineering for CSBG Installed Base Performance

John Parks has 20+ years working in semiconductor capital equipment, including 17 years at Lam Research. He started in New Product Development, developing new etch technology. John also developed the vapor drying techniques that formed the basis of Lam's linear clean product. He later worked on the team that developed Lam's sole deposition product at the time of the Novellus Systems merger and eventually managed the product line. Prior to moving to the Customer Support Business Group, John led the development team for new ALD and PECVD products. He currently leads a team responsible for driving performance improvement for all released Lam products.

John holds Bachelor degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Economics from Caltech.

Amanda Shing, Process Engineer for Etch Product Group

Dr. Amanda Shing started at Lam Research through the NCG Rotational Program. She has performed process, systems, and product engineering for conductor etch tools and dielectric etch tools addressing applications in logic, flash memory, and MEMS devices. Amanda graduated with a B.S in Chemistry from MIT and M.S. and Ph.D. from Caltech specializing in electronic materials for potential solar cell applications.

Kevin Gu, Process Engineer in Office of the CTO

Dr. Kevin Gu is a Process Engineer in the Advanced Technology Development division under the Office of the CTO. He works within ATD on disruptive technologies for penetration into markets not traditionally served by Lam Research. Since joining Lam in 2018, he has focused on developing novel photoresist technologies for next generation EUV lithographic processes. He holds a B.S. from Caltech in Chemical Engineering (Avery House), and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University

For more information, please contact Tiffany Kimoto by email at [email protected].