Expert Details
Pure Metals & Compound Semiconductors
ID: 108119
Canada
INDIUM ANTIMONIDE; GALLIUM ANTIMONIDE. Expert has 43 years experience growing and processing these binary compound semiconductors sensitive to infrared radiation.
BINARY AND TERNARY COMPOUND SEMICONDUCTORS; THERMOELECTRIC MATERIALS; II-VI SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIAL. Expert has extensive experience in working with II-VI and III-V binary and ternary compound semiconductors, as well as thermoelectric materials. He is familiar with many facets of their growth, melting, doping, fabrication (including orientation control, cutting, and polishing), and characterization.
ELECTRONIC MATERIALS PROCESSING. Expert has expertise in electronic materials, especially with the processing of materials for electronic applications. He is proficient with many pure metals (5/9 - 8/9+), and is skilled with the related aspects of purification technology, material handling, and purity verification. His experience includes zone melting, electrolytic refining, pyrometallurgy, distillation, and sublimation.
HIGH PURITY METALS. Expert has over 35 years of experience in the ultra-refining of metals (Al, As, Bi, Cd, Ga, Au, In, Hg, Se, Ag, Sn, Te, Zn) by pyrometallurgy, distillation, zone-refining, electrolysis, and gas and vacuum treatment. He is also familiar with most means of characterizing metals, including emission, mass spectroscopy and GDMS, SIMS analysis, and cryogenic resistivity measurements.
ELECTRONIC MATERIALS BUSINESS OPERATIONS. Expert is well-versed in electronic materials business operations. He is very knowledgeable regarding process design, production facilities and troubleshooting, manpower considerations, and personal computer applications.
NEGATIVE-TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIAL; DOPED SEMICONDUCTOR. Ex[ert has 43 years experience in doping of compound semiconductors including dopant choice, efficiency/activation, segregation, and compensation.
POSITIVE-TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIAL. Expert has 43 years experience in doping of compound semiconductors including dopant choice, efficiency/activation, segregation, compensation, and high-resistivity of narrow-gap materials.
SEMICONDUCTOR PROPERTY. Specializing in narrow-gap compound semiconductors; he is experienced in electrical measurements, IR response, and physical characterization.
Expert has 15 years of hands-on experience in the purification of many metals to purities of 99.999% (5N) through 99.99999 (7N) purity. These include Aluminum, Arsenic, Antimony, Bismuth, Cadmium, Copper, Mercury, Tin, Silver, Thallium, Zinc and Gold. Processes included pyrometallurgy, electrolysis, distillation, sublimation and zone refining. Equipment was designed to provide plant capacity sufficient to supply 50% of the World requirements for those metals.
Education
| Year | Degree | Subject | Institution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year: 1984 | Degree: Diploma in Advanced Management | Subject: Banff School of Advanced Management | Institution: |
| Year: 1966 | Degree: BASc | Subject: Engineering Physics (Metallurgy and Materials Science) | Institution: University of Toronto |
Work History
| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
|---|---|---|---|
| Years: 2015 to Present | Employer: Undisclosed | Title: Chief Scientist | Department: |
Responsibilities:Company specializes in the ultra-purification of certain metals, supplying them in most forms critical for the production of specialty semiconductor products.Expert is substantially retired but retains an advisory capacity on all technical matters for this firm, producing a range of best-in-industry high purity metals. He also continues a general consultancy in antimonide and telluride compound semiconductors with contacts worldwide. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 1990 to Present | Employer: Undisclosed | Title: Independent Consultant | Department: |
Responsibilities:Offer independent consultancy in high purity metals and compound semiconductor production. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 1991 to 2009 | Employer: Firebird Semiconductors | Title: President & Chief Scientist | Department: |
Responsibilities:Founded firm 1991. Major supplier of InSb & GaSb; 6N & 7N In and SbAll non-operations matters including planning, finance, Chief Scientist. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 1989 to 1990 | Employer: Johnson Matthey Electronics | Title: Manager | Department: Administrative and Technical Services |
Responsibilities:Site Manager during their attempted transition after purchase from Cominco Electronic Materials |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 1984 to 1989 | Employer: Cominco Electronic Materials | Title: Program Manager, Infrared Materials | Department: Electronic Materials Division |
Responsibilities:Responsible for 50-person plant producing infrared-sensitive compounds semiconductors -primarily CdHgTe but also InSb, GaSb, CdTe and CdZnTe.Internal consultant on high purity metals where I had headed the R&D and production of 14 pure metals for the prior 17 years. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 1981 to 1984 | Employer: | Title: Senior Production Engineer | Department: Electronic Materials Division |
Responsibilities:Responsibilities:• Responsible for expansion of production facilities and for the production of infrared compound semiconductors. • Staff of 5-10. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 1967 to 1981 | Employer: Cominco Limited | Title: Research Engineer (LOA 1971-72) | Department: Electronic Materials Division |
Responsibilities:Responsibilities:• Designed, constructed and maintained conventional and unique equipment for the purification of 15 metals by pyrometallurgy, distillation, wet chemistry, electrolysis and zone refining. • Supervised the growth of InSb and thermoelectric materials. Achievements: • Became and remain an expert on high purity metal production. • Developed equipment for producing 6/9Al in 200 lb quantities, hi-ratio (40,000) Al for hyperconductor applications. • Developed new processes for Te, Sb and Sn purification which halved their cost. • Upscaled As production lot size from 7 to 500 lb. • Redesign of all the zone refining equipment in the plant for efficiency and productivity. |
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International Experience
| Years | Country / Region | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Years: 1992 to 1993 | Country / Region: South Africa/Pretoria | Summary: He assisted in the stablishment of CdHgTe production at a Pretoria site. |
| Years: 1990 to 1991 | Country / Region: Canada/Montreal | Summary: He assisted a major Canadian firm establish high-purity metals production. |
Career Accomplishments
| Associations / Societies |
|---|
| Expert is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia. He was the Canadian representative to the NATO CMT evaluation exchange, and has "Secret" security clearance. |
| Licenses / Certifications |
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| Professional Engineer since 1971. |
| Professional Appointments |
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| President & CSO |
| Publications and Patents Summary |
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| He is the author of five technical publications including three chapters in technical books. He holds one Canadian and two U.S. patents. |
Additional Experience
| Vendor Selection |
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| Expert has experience locating vendors of: * Compound semiconductors * Pure metals * Quartz * Graphite * Pure chemicals * Contract analytical work * Surplus processing equipment * Semiconductor process chemicals * Polish abrasives. He has access to the following resources: * Printed materials * Contacts * Extensive literature database on III-V materials processing. |
Language Skills
| Language | Proficiency |
|---|---|
| French | Expert is fluent in French |
| German | He is semi-fluent in German |
| Spanish | He speaks conversational Spanish |
Fields of Expertise
binary semiconductor material, Bridgman technique, Czochralski process, doped semiconductor, doping agent, electronic material processing, high-purity aluminum, high-purity arsenic, high-purity bismuth, high-purity cadmium, high-purity gallium, high-purity indium, high-purity mercury, high-purity metal, high-purity selenium, high-purity silver, high-purity tellurium, high-purity tin, high-purity zinc, II-VI semiconductor material, negative-type semiconductor material, positive-type semiconductor material, semiconductor doping, semiconductor material, semiconductor material property, semiconductor technology, semiconductor wafer, ternary semiconductor material, crystal growth, crystal polishing, III-V semiconductor material, indium compound, metal distillation, semiconductor wafer cleaning, semiconductor wafer etching, semiconductor wafer lapping, semiconductor wafer polishing, tellurium, X-ray diffraction, zone refining, antimony, cadmium, high-purity material, indium antimony, zoning, atomic layer deposition, semiconductor industry chemical, radiation sensitivity, compound semiconductor material, chemical mechanical polishing, cadmium telluride, gallium compound, cadmium compound, semiconductor material processing, chemical impurity material, defect, wet chemical etching, infrared radiation energy, pyrometallurgy, metal electrorefining, photoconductive material, zone melting, thermoelectric material, sublimation, semiconductor device, research management, refining, surface polishing, semiconductor passivation, metallurgy, mercury, infrared imaging, infrared detector, semiconductor growth, epitaxy, arsenic