Benjamin Curtin Email & Phone Number

Santa Barbara, California, United States

Santa Barbara, California, United States

- Responsible for foundry operations and development, including platform and process integration, reliability and failure analysis- Technical lead and program management for a DARPA LUMOS project that integrated quantum dot lasers and SOAs on a low-loss SiN platform with micro-transfer printing- Contributed to several DARPA and SBIR active programs and proposals

Goleta, Ca

- Technical lead for reliability, qualification, failure analysis, fabrication process and platform integration- Responsible for die-to-wafer bonding and back-end process development- Successfully transferred die-to-wafer bonding to a high-volume manufacturing partner, including process validation and qualification- Brought up consolidated back-end process with an OSAT supplier, reducing cost and cycle time from existing supply chain- Worked closely with foundries and process engineers to develop new processes, understand and address yield issues, and integrate wafer processing between multiple suppliers- Established process specifications, in-line metrology, and control plans during development and when transitioning platform components and processes to production

Goleta, Ca

- Responsible for optoelectronic component, IC, and package reliability, qualification, and failure analysis within the Silicon Photonics group, supervised two engineers and a reliability technician- Successfully transitioned internal qualification infrastructure to ISE Labs, and oversaw development of HTOL and THB test hardware for standalone ICs and multi-chip modules/flip-chip BGA (fcBGA) packages- Developed reliability and qualification plans and requirements for foundry development, components, fcBGA packages, and pluggable modules

Goleta, Ca

- Responsible for optoelectronic component, IC, and package reliability, qualification, and failure analysis- Developed reliability requirements and test vehicles, designed reliability experiments, implemented database (SQL) and automated reliability analysis with Python (SQL + Pandas)- Developed qualification plans based on GR-468 and JEDEC with strategic partners and customers, worked with vendors to develop custom HTOL and THB test hardware for optoelectronic components through packaged ICs

Goleta, Ca

- Performed failure analysis of passive and active optoelectronic components with SEM, AFM, infrared imaging, and worked with vendors for FIB, TEM, EDX, cross-sectioning, and polishing- Developed new tests to identify failure modes of these components, determine root cause, and support reliability experiments

Explored two methods to improve the thermoelectric conversion efficiency of silicon nanowires (Si NWs) with:- Dense arrays of vertical Si NWs embedded in spin-on glass to form a low thermal conductivity composite material. Measured the cross-plane thermal conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and power generation of the Si NW/spin-on glass thin-film material.- Electron mobility enhancement with electrically gated Si NWs by (1) fabricating gated devices on silicon-on- insulator substrates and (2) modeling thermoelectric properties for experimental comparison and to determine optimal device parameters.

TMP 242 - Entrepreneurship (Fall 2013)ECE 162A - Quantum Description of Electronic Materials (Fall 2009)

Designed, fabricated, and characterized photonic/plasmonic crystal back-reflectors for absorption enhancement in amorphous Si solar cells.

EE 330 - Integrated ElectronicsEE 432 - Microelectronic Fabrication

- Verified the functionality of a MLC 16Gb/32Gb NAND flash memory module during the design stage- Performed Verilog and HSIM simulations that resulted in circuit changes implemented to address issues before mask tape-out

- Performed wafer level testing on Nextest testers to support yield analysis for a MLC 8Gb/16Gb NAND flash memory modules - Developed new built-in self-test routines that reduced front-end testing time

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Electrical Engineering

Thesis: Improvement and Integration of Silicon Nanowires for Thermoelectric Applications

Master Of Science (M.S.), Electrical Engineering

Thesis: Photonic Crystal Back-reflectors for Light Management and Enhanced Absorption in Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells

Bachelor Of Science (B.S.), Electrical Engineering

Activities and Societies: Eta Kappa Nu