Brian Karr Email & Phone Number

Saint Paul, Mn, Us

Columbus, Nebraska, United States

My role is focused on leadership of resource (5 engineers, 3 technicians) responsible for Axial Leaded Fixed-Film, and Leaded Wire-Wound resistor products as well as Surface Mount WFM, Networks, and Techno resistor products.• Process and automation engineering improved cracked coating yields on Leaded Wire-Wound resistor products from 45% to 90%. This was accomplished with coating mixing process and environmental conditions improvements, coating process application improvements, and… Show more My role is focused on leadership of resource (5 engineers, 3 technicians) responsible for Axial Leaded Fixed-Film, and Leaded Wire-Wound resistor products as well as Surface Mount WFM, Networks, and Techno resistor products.• Process and automation engineering improved cracked coating yields on Leaded Wire-Wound resistor products from 45% to 90%. This was accomplished with coating mixing process and environmental conditions improvements, coating process application improvements, and burn-in test process air flow improvements. This lines profitability is fueled by military resistor products.• Process engineering, automating engineering, and production delivered 50% more revenue ($11M vs $7M) relative to budget in Fiscal Year 2023. This improvement was fueled by miliary resistor products.• Vishay Dale Electronics division leadership of Global Trade Compliance. Division successfully passed an internal audit in 2024, with only minor specification update requirements. Show less

Bloomington, Minnesota, United States

My role was focused on leadership of resources (7-9 engineers and technicians) and projects for work focused on HDD head dynamic mechanical characterization.• The team developed test/metrology hardware and software for in-situ, dynamic mechanical characterization and device shape measurement. Engineering tools were developed and documented with best practices, establishing test flows for product and technology design validation testing / Failure Analysis.

Bloomington Minnesota

My role was focused on leadership of resources (20+ engineers and technicians) responsible for development of mechanical electrical test hardware and software for deployment to Seagate Thailand for assessment of the mechanical component designs and FA.• The team provided characterization and recommendations for design validation testing for mechanical designs and integration using component spin stand and drive testing.• The team pioneered the use, in Seagate, of large quantity… Show more My role was focused on leadership of resources (20+ engineers and technicians) responsible for development of mechanical electrical test hardware and software for deployment to Seagate Thailand for assessment of the mechanical component designs and FA.• The team provided characterization and recommendations for design validation testing for mechanical designs and integration using component spin stand and drive testing.• The team pioneered the use, in Seagate, of large quantity drive testing for component mechanical failure modes and design validation. This capability was transferred to Seagate Thailand and ramped to 1000’s of slots of test capacity HAMR and PMR long term mechanical reliability testing. Show less

Bloomington Minnesota

My role was focused on building a cross-functional team of engineers with mechanical and electrical test backgrounds to tackle component mechanical reliability issues.• The team delivered, never before used in Seagate mechanical R&D, advanced mechanical component testing and electrical component testing capability for systematic designed experimentation to understand sensitivities to key variables.• The team delivered designs and key understanding of the physics of the use of… Show more My role was focused on building a cross-functional team of engineers with mechanical and electrical test backgrounds to tackle component mechanical reliability issues.• The team delivered, never before used in Seagate mechanical R&D, advanced mechanical component testing and electrical component testing capability for systematic designed experimentation to understand sensitivities to key variables.• The team delivered designs and key understanding of the physics of the use of the Seagate first generation hot-wire anemometers for improved head reliability. These anemometers were used to map media defects and improve head contact detect burnish related reliability failure modes.• I was inducted into the Seagate Technology Patent Hall of Fame Show less

Bloomington, Minnesota

My role was to develop test modules and hardware for design validation of thin film magneto-resistive sensors, along with developing processes for hard magnetic material for improvements in magnetic reader stability.• Developed and demonstrated the feasibility of a low temperature (300C) deposition process for achieving the FePt L10 phase using Pt seed and cap layers to obtain a high coercivity hard magnet.• Supported development and deployment of new capacitive shunts for ESD… Show more My role was to develop test modules and hardware for design validation of thin film magneto-resistive sensors, along with developing processes for hard magnetic material for improvements in magnetic reader stability.• Developed and demonstrated the feasibility of a low temperature (300C) deposition process for achieving the FePt L10 phase using Pt seed and cap layers to obtain a high coercivity hard magnet.• Supported development and deployment of new capacitive shunts for ESD robustness improvement in the consumer drive market segment. Show less

Bloomington, Minnesota

My role was the lead engineer of reader stack barrier research and development and Tunneling Magneto-resistive (TGMR) reader performance improvement for transfer to the productization team.• Inventor of the 1st tunneling barrier technology reader stack (TiOx) to be productized in the hard drive industry. Co-inventor of the 2nd tunneling barrier technology reader stack (MgO). Development of the 1st generation barrier materials resulting in a 12-month time to market advantage over the… Show more My role was the lead engineer of reader stack barrier research and development and Tunneling Magneto-resistive (TGMR) reader performance improvement for transfer to the productization team.• Inventor of the 1st tunneling barrier technology reader stack (TiOx) to be productized in the hard drive industry. Co-inventor of the 2nd tunneling barrier technology reader stack (MgO). Development of the 1st generation barrier materials resulting in a 12-month time to market advantage over the competition.• Developed initial requirements for definition of the 1st generation of reader deposition equipment for TGMR sensors. Lead capital procurement and qualification Seagate’s TGMR reader transition.• Seagate Technology Award for Outstanding Technical Contributions. Show less

Bloomington, Minnesota

My role was a slider process development engineer leveraged my thin film deposition, photolithograph, and etch background to develop and deploy processes to Seagate Malaysia.• Developed a thin film deposition process for an Au/Si high resistance device, and laser heat treatment processes for transforming a Au/Si bi-layer thin film into a conductive shut for ESD protection.• I developed slider photolithography, etch process, metrology for characterizing 3-D features.

Mesa, Az

Focused on I-line stepper overlay and CD optimization and the impact to downstream processing.• Developed and integration of new photolithography and metrology processes for microcontrollers.• Leveraged Statistical Process Control techniques and Design of Experiments to reduce process variation.

Ph. D, Materials Science And Engineering, 3.72/4.00

Activities and Societies: UIUC MatSE Racheff Award for Graduate Research USAF Palace Knight Program Ph.D research under the advisement.

Bachelor'S Degree, Metallurgical Engineering, 3.87/4.00

Activities and Societies: Graduated with Highest Honors Olin Undergraduate Research and Research Paper Award