RIT Microelectronic Engineering 40th Anniversary Celebration

The Kate Gleason College of Engineering's Microelectronic Engineering program is celebrating 40 years since the creation of its Microelectronic Engineering BS degree program, the United States' first Bachelor of Science program specializing in the fabrication of semiconductor devices and integrated circuits.

40th Annual Microelectronic Engineering Conference at RIT

Friday, April 8, 2022

9:00 a.m.-4 p.m. (agenda below)

RIT Inn & Conference Center

40th Anniversary Celebration Dinner

Friday, April 8, 2022

5:30-6:30 p.m. - Cocktail Hour

6:30 p.m. - Dinner (agenda below)

Keynote Speaker - Gary Patton, Corporate Vice President, General Manager of Design Enablement, and General Manager of Component Research at Intel

RIT Inn & Conference Center

COVID-19 Safety

Your safety and the safety of the RIT community is important to us. We remain committed to ensuring a safe environment for all and will adjust our practices as new information and circumstances dictate. All guests are expected to comply with applicable laws, regulations, and guidelines relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. Please review these laws, regulations, and guidelines on the Visitors to Campus page. Please contact the conference organizers, Robert Pearson and Sean Rommel, with questions or concerns.

Reserve your spot today.

Registration is required for both the conference and the dinner. Register below for both.

Student Registration

Students, a student discount is available to you. Please contact Dr. Robert Pearson to register.

Robert Pearson, Associate Professor

585-475-2923, repemc@rit.edu

Conference

A student analyzing a computer chip wafer in the RIT Semiconductor & Microsystems Fabrication Lab.

40th Annual Microelectronic Engineering Conference at RIT

The Annual Microelectronic Engineering Conference (AMEC) at RIT started in 1983 as a means of bringing together students, faculty, alumni, and industry interested in microelectronic engineering. Students, alumni, and industry colleagues share research and industry trends.

Conference Agenda

8:30 a.m. - Opening Remarks - Dr. Ellen Granberg, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Rochester Institute of Technology

Morning Session

Session Chair: Dr. Robert Pearson, Associate Professor

8:35 a.m. - “Ion Implantation - Markets and Applications”, Paul Whalen, ’86, ’92 MS

8:55 a.m. - “Micro LED IGZO TFT Backplane Fabrication and Integration”, Kaden Profit, ‘22

9:15 a.m. - "Micro LED Display Controller for Image Control Evaluation", Conrad Miszczak, ‘22

9:35 a.m. - “Gallium Monolayer Doping (MLD) for MOSFET fabrication”, Gabriel Curvacho, ‘22

9:55 a.m. - "Non-Sense: Lessons Learned Developing Technology on the Actuator Side of Microelectromechanical Systems", Lance Barron, ’05, ’05 MS, Director of Engineering, Qorvo

10:20 a.m. - BREAK

10:35 a.m. - “EUV Implementation in Manufacturing; Peeling the Engineering Onion”, Dave Kewley, Senior Process Development Engineer, Micron Technology, Inc.

11:00 am - “Implementing a Mercury Telluride Quantum Dot Film in an Infrared Photo-detection Device“, Austin Whitaker, ‘22

11:20 a.m. - “Sidewall Spacer Deposition and Litho-Etch Processing for Fabrication of Silicon Fins”, Matt Cherchio, ‘22

11:40 a.m. - 40 Years of Microelectronic Engineering at RIT, Dr. Lynn Fuller, Professor Emeritus, Dr. Robert Pearson, Associate Professor

Noon - LUNCH

1:00 p.m. - Panel Session: The Future of Semiconductor Education

Moderator - Dr. Sean Rommel, Professor, Director of the Microelectronic Engineering Programs

Panelists

Dr. Jesus del Alamo, Donner Professor, Professor of Electrical Engineering, MIT
Dr. Santosh Kurinec, Professor, RIT
Gary Patton, Corporate Vice President, Intel
Professor Patrick Fay, Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Notre Dame
Dr. Reinaldo Vega, ’04, ’06 MS, Senior Engineer, Device Performance Lead, IBM Research

2:10 p.m. - “High Performance III-N Devices for Millimeter-wave Wireless Communications”, Patrick Fay, Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Notre Dame

2:35 p.m. - “Workforce Preparation: What Have You Gotten Yourselves Into?”, Dr. Reinaldo Vega ’04, ’06 MS, Senior Engineer, Device Performance Lead, IBM Research

3:00 p.m. - BREAK

Afternoon Session

Session Chair: Michael Jackson, Associate Professor

3:15 p.m. - "Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers for 3-D Sensing, My Journey", Dr. David Cheskis ’89, Product Line Director, 3D-Sensing Lumentum

3:40 p.m. - “How We Got Here: The Semiconductor Worldwide Shortage”, Matthew Hicks '08, Director of ATL Semiconductor Fab & Site Lead, Northrup Grumman Corporation

4:05 p.m. - “Engineering a Monolithic micro-LED Display System”, Matt Hartensveld ’18, ’18 MS, ’21 Ph.D.

4:25 p.m. - Closing Remarks - Dr. Sean Rommel, professor, Director of the Microelectronic Engineering Programs

Dinner

An audience of people listening to a presentation in a lecture hall.

40th Anniversary Celebration Dinner

Connect with old friends and colleagues as we celebrate 40 years of ground breaking microelectronic engineering education. We are celebrating 20 years of Turkman Scholars and honoring Dr. Lynn Fuller and his retirement in the spring of 2021. Honor Dr. Fuller by giving to the Dr. Lynn Fuller Endowed Student Support Fund and share your memories of him.

Honor Dr. Fuller

Dinner Agenda

5:30 p.m.	Reception
6:30 p.m.	Dinner begins
7:00 p.m.	Opening Remarks Dr. Sean Rommel, Professor, Director of the Microelectronic Engineering Programs Dean Doreen Edwards, Kate Gleason College of Engineering

	Joseph Morelle, U.S. Congressman
	Chris Harris, Director of Community Relations, Government and Community Relations, RIT
	Inauguration of the Dr. Lynn Fuller Scholar Award Dr. Robert Pearson, Associate Professor
	Celebrating 40 Years of Microelectronic Engineering at RIT Dr. Robert Pearson, Associate Professor Keith Tabakman ’ 03, Senior Manager Research and Development Portfolio Planning, Global Foundaries
	Celebrating the Renan Turkman Scholars History of the Renan Turkman Scholar Award Dr. Robert Pearson, Associate Professor Dr. Reinaldo Vega, ’04, ’06 MS, IBM Presentation of the 2022 Renan Turkman Scholar Award Dr. Robert Pearson, Associate Professor
	Keynote Presentation Gary Patton, Corporate Vice President, General Manager of Design Enablement and General Manager of Component Research, Intel Corporation
	Closing Remarks Dr. Sean Rommel, Professor, Director of the Microelectronic Engineering Programs

Dr. Lynn Fuller wearing a teal collared shirt and standing in front of an orange window of the RIT clean room.

Honoring Dr. Lynn Fuller

Dr. Lynn Fuller retired in the spring of 2021. This year's Microelectronic Engineering Conference will feature the inaugural presentation of the Lynn Fuller Scholar Award.

Honor Dr. Fuller by giving to the Dr. Lynn Fuller Endowed Student Support Fund and share your memories of him.

Honor Dr. Fuller

History

A collage of four photos depicting students and faculty working in RIT's Semiconductor and Microsystems Fabrication Lab.

RIT's Microelectronic Engineering BS program was formed in 1982 in response to the semiconductor industry's need for entry level process engineers. The U.S. semiconductor industry led the world in intellectual property in the early 1980s but faced serious manufacturing challenges from abroad. RIT was uniquely positioned to provide the type of highly trained process engineers needed in wafer manufacturing. RIT had expertise in the imaging, optics, and chemistry demanded in the photolithographic processes used to produce the ever shrinking circuitry. RIT also had strong electrical and computer engineering programs and one of the largest and oldest cooperative education programs in the country. Combining these strengths led to the creation of this unique program and curriculum. Undergraduate courses in photolithography, thin films, IC Processing, CMOS Manufacturing, Design of Experiments, and many more were developed.

In 1985, RIT was able to construct a 15,000 sq. ft. cleanroom and fit it with equipment donated by our industrial affiliates. A Master of Engineering, Master of Science and later a Ph.D. degree in Microsystems Engineering were added to the RIT degree portfolio - including an online ME program starting in the 1990s.

View presentations from last year's 39th Annual Microelectronic Engineering Conference

Annual Microelectronic Engineering Conference Archives

Lodging

We welcome all microelectronic engineering alumni, colleagues, and friends, near and far, to join the celebration. For those traveling to Rochester, lodging is conveniently available at the events' location:

RIT Inn & Conference Center